Elevating healthy masculinities at the community level with indigenous adolescents in Mexico

• In Event: Gender transformative education a catalyst for the next generation of male advocates for gender equality.

Proposal

Though gender inequality is present across the world, the study of masculinity and masculine gender norms has primarily focused on western settings and urbanized populations. There are few gender transformative interventions focused on working with indigenous populations, and specially, working on gender equitable masculinities among indigenous boys and men (York, 2015). In 2020 the School of Healthy Masculinities for Indigenous Youth of the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico was launched to:
1) Create safe spaces for indigenous boys and young men to challenge stigmas, attitudes, and laws that promote a hegemonic and violent masculinity that undermines gender equality.
2) Recover and strengthen deep cultural values, norms and ideas linked to gender justice and community well-being.
3) Offer comprehensive training and ongoing support to boys and young men so they can become leaders and advocates of gender justice within their schools, families and communities.
Based on a thorough understanding of the values, needs, challenges and perspectives of local men and boys, the curriculum was designed to incorporate an integrated approach for systems change that starts from the individual level and radiates behavioral and relational changes outward. This includes indigenous youth leadership at the center of social change and a strong commitment to collaboration and lifelong learning. The Masculinities School is a 1 year-long program, and more than 50 indigenous boys, adolescents and men (from 10 to 40 years old) from the Chiapas region known as “Los Altos” (The Highlands).
The program evaluation showed positive changes at the individual level, including greater emotional regulation, at the family level, greater commitment to paternity and carework in the home, and at the community level, with the opening of new comunal spaces where women and girls are included in conversations, negotiations and decision-making.
Among the main learnings and lessons learned from this initiative are:
- The need to introduce culturally sensitive approaches based on the realities, experiences, and cultural frameworks of the participants in the design and implementation of gender transformative curriculum specifically targeting boys and men. Understanding cultural realities can reveal the most effective and respectful ways to identify and challenge harmful notions of masculinity and promote gender justice that is meaningful to the realities of indigenous girls and women.
- The importance of promoting intergenerational, intersectional, and intercultural approaches in the design of the intervention to recognise the link between patriarchy and to other systems of power and oppression that collude and promote inequality and suffering (such as racism, colonialism, and adult-centrism). In this way, the pedagogical process of the School exercises liberation, decolonization, and cultural revaluation.
- The need to incorporate educational and learning components based on tenderness, care, play and collectiveness. It is essential to encourage changes that strengthen the dignity, autonomy, care practices and decision-making capacity of the participants.
Finally, the challenges of the school will be discussed, including the need to incorporate more men and adult community leaders in the process, and the importance of translating individual and collective learning into community led actions and far-reaching public policies.

Author

• Rodrigo Barraza, Global Fund For Children