Introducing Pathways: A Regional Network for Gender Justice
There aren’t too many people across Canada engaging men and boys in gender justice work — meaning the advancement of gender equity and the prevention of gender-based violence.
And there definitely aren’t enough men and masculine folks doing this work.
Case in point, in 2019, Shift: the Project to End Domestic Violence found that less than 150 male-identified individuals were doing the work of engaging men & boys in gender justice in public, intentional, and explicit ways in a country of 39 million people.
And yes, this survey may have missed some folks, and there are likely new groups that have formed since 2019 — but the fact remains that we need more people doing this work!
Especially in the face of rising extremism and polarization — including increasing & ongoing misogyny, transphobia, racism, Islamophobia, and homophobia — we need a more coordinated counter-push to these waves of hatred in Canada.
Not only do we need to counter the hate, but we need to build a hopeful alternative.
What does a future with gender justice look like? How do we get there? How do we support men and boys to see themselves in this work, and what the work is asking of them? Who is responsible for doing this work, and how can they hone their skills to do it well?
To support the ongoing work of engaging men & boys in gender justice, Next Gen Men is excited to share a new phase of our work supported by Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE).
We’ve set out to establish a regional* network inviting new stakeholders to engage the men & boys in their spaces in the advancement of gender equity and the prevention of gender-based violence.
We are calling this initiative Pathways For Engaging Men & Boys in Gender Justice (Pathways for short).
There are four main things Pathways aims to achieve over the next three years:
Inviting new stakeholders into engaging men & boys in gender justice through targeting male-dominant settings like sports, oil & gas, outdoor education, etc.
Spotlighting existing leaders (like the Moosehide Campaign, the SASC Waterloo, Be the Voice, and others) as practitioners and thought leaders and creating a directory to platform them.
Sharing emergent action-based research from leaders in the field like Shift: The Project to End Domestic Violence.
Forming and sustaining connections among those interested in engaging men & boys through a monthly newsletter highlighting news, events, and resources, as well as a forum for those interested in asynchronous communication.
We chose the name Pathways because we know there are many different approaches when doing this work, and it’s not one-size-fits-all — there are many different paths we might take. What works for one group of men or boys may not work for another.
Our goal is not to recreate existing efforts, but rather to invite new folks to embark on the journey of engaging men & boys in gender justice within their own environments. As coaches, educators, employees & employers, parents, and mentors — we all have influence in our own spheres. How can we leverage our influence to create change?
Suppose we want to stick with the trail metaphor. In that case, Pathways is about trying to get a whole bunch of people interested in embarking on a journey by mapping out the trailheads, introducing them to trusted guides, making sure the pathways are well-maintained, and the guides are supported — all in the effort to help us all get to the summit.
Our first event is already live, and if you’re a leader and/or a coach in sports, we hope you’ll join us. If not, we hope you’ll share it widely!
* Currently provinces from BC to Ontario. We’re hopeful Pathways can be national and include all provinces and territories eventually, and offer services through both official languages. This is just the beginning.