Community Matters: How We’re Coming Together to Engage Men & Boys in Gender Justice
Believe it or not, there aren’t yet that many people out there who are super passionate about engaging men and boys in gender justice (weird, we know). We love this work so much, we’re always wondering… why don’t more people do it? And how can we grow the movement?
First, we need to understand what it means to engage men and boys in gender justice.
In short, it’s about engaging, encouraging, role modeling, teaching, and collaborating with men and boys to advance gender equality and eliminate gender-based violence.
Is the work too new? Is that why so few people do it?
The work of engaging men and boys in gender justice is not exactly new. It’s work that’s been happening for a long time in various capacities.
Even the first wave of feminism had its male supporters. Suffragettes worked tirelessly to get men in power, and the men in their lives, to see the value in their liberation—engaging men in gender justice on their terms.
With every subsequent wave of feminism, more men have increasingly understood not only the value in women’s liberation, but also the ways in which men’s liberation is bound up with that of women and queer folks. To the point that now, 81% of Canadians (across genders) say they value gender equality.
Yet, even if the majority of men agree with gender equality, there still aren’t many who are public, intentional, and explicit in their support of gender equity and the actions they’re taking to work toward it. We’ve got work to do in order to grow the movement.
Do not enough people know about the work of engaging men and boys in gender justice? Is that why there aren’t that many people doing this work?
Maybe—it’s not exactly splashed across billboards. And perhaps there are simply not enough avenues for people to learn about this work, and to join in the movement.
Enter, Pathways for Engaging Men & Boys in Gender Justice.
What is Pathways?
Pathways for Engaging Men & Boys in Gender Justice is an initiative focused on three things:
Increasing the number of leaders doing gender justice work where they live, work, play, and worship
Providing the teachers, tools, and skills for these leaders to most effectively engage the men and boys in their communities and
Connecting leaders to learn with and from one another.
Pathways is funded by Women & Gender Equality Canada and supported by Next Gen Men. We’ve been working on this project for a while now—first starting pre-COVID with consultations across Canada, then resuming in late 2022.
Since resuming, Pathways has been focused on introducing people to the work of engaging men and boys through industry-specific webinars, and deepening their learning through workshops led by Lana Wells at Shift: the Project to End Domestic Violence.
We also wanted to create a free online community for people to reflect on what they’re learning, ask questions, connect with one another, and support each other. We also use the space to share resources and post events! Learn more and join it here!
Why join an online community about engaging men & boys in gender justice?
Two main reasons:
Connection & Support: meet other leaders from across Canada who are passionate about engaging men and boys in gender justice. Get support problem-solving common challenges collectively, share your work, and celebrate your wins!
Learning Opportunities & Resources: Join workshops with some of the leading practitioners and researchers on engaging men and boys in Canada. Get access to libraries, podcasts, articles, toolkits, and more!
All of this in one convenient space!
Who can join the Pathways Community?
We built this space for anyone interested in engaging men and boys in gender justice.
Regardless of your gender identity or expression, if you have a position of leadership and you hope to leverage that power to engage the boys or men that you work with, this could be for you!
For instance, if you’re a coach, educator, or youth worker, this is for you. Or perhaps you’re a shift leader, crew leader, supervisor, manager, or employer. Maybe you’re a religious leader, union leader, Elder, formal or informal community leader, or mentor.
Anyone looking to build their knowledge and skills about how to effectively engage the boys and men in their lives in gender justice is invited to join—whether gender justice is new or familiar to you, we welcome your curiosity and courage.
Why is community important in the gender justice movement?
We noticed how few men are actively promoting gender justice in public, intentional, and explicit ways, despite the majority of men valuing gender equality.
So we know this work is needed.
We also know we can’t do it alone.
Social justice movements are just that…social! We learn with and from each other. We firmly believe that everyone has something to teach and everyone has something to learn.
For those of us who do care about this work, coming together can help us avoid isolation, confusion, and burnout.
Community can help us get unstuck when we’re feeling overwhelmed, lift us when we’re feeling down, and provide the collective energy needed to keep going.
This work needs you. We hope you’ll join us!