Men have been neglected
Men have been neglected in our equity, diversity, and inclusion work #equitydiversityinclusion. This assertion can lead to responses such as ‘Yea, poor men, they’re doing just fine”. And indeed it is hard for those working furiously (mostly women) to tackle gender inequality and who are tuned into men’s privilege in the workplace, to want to focus on men. But the longer I work in the gender space, the more convinced I am that we need to put much more effort, and resources, into working with men. That is, if we really want to create change.
Until we include men we are firmly mired in this equation -?gender inequality is about women = women’s problem = women’s work to fix
This is not so very far removed from women are the problem, women need fixing and women need to fit in. Which is a long way away from structural and cultural solutions to gender inequality, based on understanding that gender inequality is produced by organisational structures, cultures and practices, and by everybody within organisations.?
Gender inequality is about all genders = everyone’s problem = everyone’s work
And while many people might agree with me theoretically, it may not be reflected in their action plans, programs and interventions. I’d love to hear more about what is happening in this space.
I’m planning a series of blogs on men, so head over to my website jendevries.com to sign up, and you won’t miss any. Also please alert people you know who may be interested. Thanks.
And now for some quick insights into why I think we need to focus on men.
Men have gender too. Don’t make them the invisible norm.?
When we disappear men’s gender, we reinforce masculinity as the norm, and fail to notice and address ways in which workplaces don’t work for many men. Discovering common ground can lead to motivating men to work for more broadly shared, humane ways of working that benefit everyone.?
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Men partnering with women to create change for all
Men have been asked to be champions, allies, mentors and sponsors of women, to make workplace better places for women. But this has ignored ways in which current workplaces, created historically by men for men, no longer work for them either.?
In my experience the most optimistic and cutting edge approach to building more gender equitable workplaces is when men and women partner to create change, to create better workplaces.?Partners for Change (myself and male co-facilitator Tim Muirhead )?brings together equal numbers of men and women to examine masculinity and femininity in the workplace, to have courageous conversations, and to create change.
Men as middle managers. Target the right people
We all know about Male Champions for Change, high profile CEO’s who spruik the message for gender equality. But it is men in the middle of organisations who have substantial impact on setting organisational culture, and who have power over the careers of their subordinates.?
Men, mentoring and sponsorship. Dismantle the ‘boy’s club’ once and for all.
We used to talk a lot about the ‘boy’s club’. However, a more positive way of engaging men in being more inclusive, and in tackling their homosocial bias (more comfortable hanging out with other men) is to focus on building more inclusive #mentoring and #sponsorship practices. This can be a very practical and powerful lever for change.?#sponsorshipmatters
Men doing harm. Make all #toxicmasculinity visible, not just extreme behaviour.?
Many men are unaware of how their masculinity and homosocial behaviours impact on others and cause harm in the workplace.?It is important to create awareness and tackle the more everyday workplace behaviours that have become normalised. They have a harmful, corrosive and career undermining impact on women, some men and non binary people.?
For more details head over to my webpage https://jendevries.com/programs/a-focus-on-men ?and sign up for my newsletter while you’re there to make sure you catch the upcoming series of blogs on men.?
Director at CSD Network
2 年A provocative headline, Jen! ? I think the ‘neglect’ of men has been neglect of men’s inner world; neglect of our humanity and spirit. This can lead us to ‘close down’ so that our (male) humanity becomes stagnant and toxic. And it can lead us to ‘lash out’, and do damage (through control, dominance, disinterest, even emotional ?or physical violence). This ‘inner’ ?neglect, of course, is commonly practiced by we men, ourselves. That fact is deeply embedded in the cultural assumptions of patriarchy. So our organisations and our culture need to focus on BOTH confronting the power-dynamics that can allow this damage to negatively impact women and other genders, AND respond to the yearning need for men (as well as women) to access our inner humanity and spirit with humility and strength. How do we do that? We refuse to collude in neglect. We insist on paying attention to our own unique human spirit, AND to the unique human spirit of those around us. We search beneath the bluster and noise; listen for that human spirit; insist—through genuine respect and equity and re-alignment of power—on creating environments in which all of us can thrive.
Emeritus Professor of Education at University of Western Australia
2 年Hi Jen, I agree with all your points. Men do need attention and the structural issues around gender cannot be dealt with by only focusing on women. Work needs to be done by everyone! Paige Porter
Professor and Director, Teaching and Learning Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and IT at University of Melbourne
2 年Agreed. And we oversimplify with unidimensional descriptions of people. There are men in many disadvantaged groups of people.