Influencing policies and legislation

National laws and policies provide a foundation to address violence against women and girls. Whether national legislation, ministerial regulations, municipal by-laws, policy statements, strategic plans, protocols or other, these instruments can provide:

Guidelines for what is and is not acceptable in a society and the repercussions and entitlements that accompany those guidelines:

Articulation of the State’s position and plans to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, including how men and boys will be explicitly incorporated.

Establishment of the roles and responsibilities of different actors within and outside of the government.

A mechanism for the allocation of funds to implement the outlined interventions.

A framework for monitoring the commitments made.

Laws and policies can be critical in determining the areas and levels of engagement that relate directly to working with men and boys in the context of violence against women, including for example, on perpetrator/batter intervention programmes; violence at schools and school-based prevention curricula; sexual harassment in workplaces; and on police, judicial and medical personnel obligations, among many other areas.

In addition to policies that are specifically related to violence against women and girls, others that relate to men and their roles in society are also important, especially policies that promote women’s human rights and gender equality across the spectrum of political, social, cultural and economic life, including shared rights and responsibilities in relation to men’s and women’s productive and reproductive roles.

Research shows that other factors can influence the perpetuation of violence against women. For example, since unemployment and underemployment are well-known triggers for violence and substance abuse, employment policy is an important entry point to address men in this context (Barker, Global Symposium 2009). Youth development policies and programmes are important for reaching young men and boys in efforts to challenge harmful gender stereotypes and values that legitimise violence against girls and women. Quality programmes to prevent and respond to child abuse (e.g. parental abuse, sexual abuse) are also important for prevention, given that boys who have been victims of violence have a higher propensity for becoming perpetrators of violence against women later in life.

To date, little has been done to incorporate men and boys in policies related to gender equality or violence against women and girls. Men have more often been considered in policies on sexual and reproductive health (e.g. family planning and HIV and AIDS in particular) and in their role as fathers, which are important components to engaging men in gender equality efforts, though they are not sufficient to address violence against women directly.

There is, however, growing recognition of this gap and promising initiatives are beginning to take root.

Examples of legal and public policy initiatives addressing men and violence against women:

“Men must teach each other that real men do not violate or oppress women – and that a woman’s place is not just in the home or the field, but in schools and offices and boardrooms.”

- Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, Global Symposium on Men and Boys

Youth Development Policies

Below are some relevant recommendations for addressing gender equality in youth educational and development policies:

• Carry out critical reviews of educational curricula, including at the pre-school, primary and secondary level, to include ways of promoting gender equality that engage boys as well as girls, including in addressing and preventing gender-based violence.

• Develop training for teachers, administrative staff and other groups dealing with children and youth (for example, school guidance counselors, health and social service professionals and police) to promote ways to engage boys and young men in gender equality. This should include sessions in which adult staff examine their own views about gender equality and assumptions about boys and male youth. Training should include orientation on how to help detect and refer girls who may be experiencing sexual abuse or harassment, and how to intervene in cases of harassment by boys and teachers.

• In school reform efforts value gender equality as an educational outcome which is as important as basic literacy and numeracy.

• Include messages and activities targeting boys and young men and promoting gender equality within existing sexuality education, HIV and AIDS prevention education and family life education curricula.

• Use existing programmes with well-developed curricula and group education processes that have been evaluated and are successful in leading to attitude change, to engage boys in gender equality. Partnerships between Governments andnon-governmental organisations should be encouraged to make such curricula and strategies widely available.

• Engage sports groups in the public and private sector to promote gender equality and non-violence among boys and men and towards women and girls. This should draw on existing experiences to engage boys through soccer coaches in Latin America, and ‘locker room’ projects used in some countries.

Adapted in part from: United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women with The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS, The International Labour Organization, and The United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Expert Group Meeting on “The Role of Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality”, Brazil,12 January 2004.

For policies and programmes related to addressing gender-based violence in education systems, see the Education Sector module.

Fatherhood Policies

Why are policies that promote men’s greater involvement in the family and childcare important?

• By encouraging father’s greater involvement in childcare, policies have the potential to promote greater gender equality – a key step in violence prevention.

• Positive father involvement increases the chance that sons will be more gender-equitable, and more nurturing as fathers, and that daughters will have more flexible views about gender as well (Levine, 1993; Russell & Radojevic, 1992).

• Promoting men’s greater and more equitable participation as fathers can help to broaden women’s economic and employment opportunities by enabling them to dedicate more time to these activities.

What are some of the caveats regarding promoting father’s involvement with children as a strategy for violence prevention?

An emphasis by family courts and others on the need for children to see their fathers may expose increased number of children (and women) to violence and abuse by fathers (Flood in press; Eriksson & Hester, 2001). Although encouraging greater involvement by fathers in childcare is important in general, it should be shaped by the specific context and done with caution.

How can public policies encourage greater father’s involvement in childcare?

Public policies and labour laws may achieve this by allowing men to take time off for parental leave after birth or for participating in parent-teacher meetings, doctor’s appointments and in caring for a sick child.

Below are some recommendations on men’s involvement in parenting and household labour from a United Nations Expert Group Meeting:

• Use financial and social policy to improve the balance between work and family life, and encourage men to make an equal contribution to domestic work.

• Expand paternal leave provisions.

• Create disincentives for employers to demand overtime work.

• Create a legal structure for permanent part-time work and incentives for men to use it.

• Develop aspects of family law that enable men to be active partners in the lives of children and dependents; review and make appropriate changes in adoption policies and the care of orphans and adopted children.

• Take measures to help teenage and young fathers be involved in the support and care of their children while continuing their education and training. Such measures include: Requiring education and training institutions to design their programmes and schedules to facilitate care work by teenage and young fathers without breaks in study; and structuring health services concerning pregnancy and early childhood to promote the participation of young fathers.

• Recognise workers’ childcare obligations in setting terms of employment and schedules of work.

• Include incentives for childcare contributions in recruitment and promotion policies.

• Build into collective bargaining strategies the possibility for men’s involvement in care work.

• Develop programmes to provide boys and youth with specific skills, such as on child care or domestic work.

• Engage religious organisations as partners in gender equality education for men and boys, inviting them to explore religious teachings (for example, about husbands in marriage relationships) that promote gender equality and social justice.

Source: United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women with The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS, The International Labour Organization, and The United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Expert Group Meeting on “The Role of Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality”, Brazil,12 January 2004.

Lessons learned regarding paternal leave policies

• Having paternity leave policies in place may not be sufficient in those countries where such legislation applies only to men who have stable formal employment and does not apply to the vast number of men of low-income families in the informal sector.

• Fathers may make low use of parental leave except when it is mandatory and when it is paid at same rate as the father’s salary (Cohen, 2000).

• Even where paternity policies have long been in place, men may not take advantage of them for fear of retaliation by employers and sensitivity to how they may be perceived by their male peers or co-workers.