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Our Approach: Engaging Men to Advance Gender Equality
Engendering Industries' approach to advancing gender equality consists of several core components. Implemented together, these components promote gender equality in the workplace.
While gender equality benefits both men and women, it is often viewed as a “women’s issue.” Without men’s engagement, however, gender equality initiatives are likely to face resistance and be less effective. USAID’s Engendering Industries program found that organizations that included activities to engage men as part of a broader gender equality strategy were more likely to report advances in corporate culture change, the promotion of talent development for women, and gender-responsive corporate policies (including parental leave, sexual harassment, and work-life balance policies).
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A Multi-Pronged Approach for Cross-Cutting Impact
To effectively advance gender equality with its partner organizations, the USAID Engendering Industries program has strategically engaged men since 2018 as part of its larger change management strategy in male-dominated industries. The program provides technical support to its partners to identify opportunities to integrate men’s engagement within the partner’s broader strategy. This support includes:
Change Management Coaching and Technical Support
As part of the program’s change management strategy, as well as each partner’s organizational strategy to advance gender equality, Engendering Industries’ change management coaches and men’s engagement experts, support partners to design and implement men’s engagement initiatives. Coaches reinforce the principles and best practices for engaging men within the context of the organization’s gender equality strategic priorities, as outlined in the Men’s Engagement Training Manual and the Engendering Industries Best Practices Framework for Advancing Gender Equality.
Men’s Engagement Training Manual
In partnership with Equimundo, Engendering Industries developed the Engaging Men for Gender Equality Training Manual over a period of two years. The manual builds upon program lessons learned since program inception and includes pre-workshop assessments and activities to promote reflection on the ways unhealthy masculinities impact employees in male-dominated industries both personally and professionally. It also guides users on how to catalyze the transformation of negative attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors into healthier thoughts and practices in the workplace across the Engendering Industries Employee Life Cycle.
Men’s Engagement Workshops
Using the Training Manual, Engendering Industries and Equimundo lead workshops to promote healthy masculinities and gender norms, which create a safe space for participants to reflect on their life experiences and learn the ways gender equality benefits both women and men. The workshops aim to develop male allies who are motivated to advance gender equality in their personal lives and the workplace. Companies nominate influential junior-, mid-, and senior-level women and men to attend the workshops. Pre-workshop assessments are conducted to measure participants' perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors in relation to gender equality. Next, participants attend workshops that last between one and five days, participating in over 40 exercises that prompt participants to reflect on the ways unhealthy masculinities and gender norms have impacted their personal and professional lives. Facilitators lead discussions on ways to transform negative attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors into healthier thoughts and practices. Finally, participants commit to becoming gender equality allies through supporting the implementation of the action plans developed during the workshop, which are linked to the company’s strategic gender equality priorities.
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Engendering Industries Gender Equality Course
The Engendering Industries Gender Equality Training Course includes a module on engaging men for gender equality, which is an abridged version of the men’s engagement course curriculum, in the academic coursework the program offers to its partners, demonstrating the importance of engaging men in gender equality work across interventions, and how to do it.
“We have one woman in our section who just came back from maternity leave; my boss was trying to prevent her from doing the assignments and putting the work on me. I told him to discuss it with her first before taking away her assignments and ask if there’s anything we can do to support her. The boss listened to me.”
– Male Men’s Engagement ToT participant, Ghana
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There are several cross-cutting factors that contribute to the success of the Engendering Industries approach to engaging men. These factors include:
- Leadership buy-in. Engendering Industries meets with executive and leadership teams at partner companies to illustrate the business case for gender equality and the importance of engaging men in gender equality efforts. This engagement with leadership generates buy-in, ensures the program is adequately resourced, and promotes program sustainability.
- Gender transformative approaches. Gender transformative approaches and participatory facilitation methods applied in engagement sessions, catalyze attitude and behavior change in support of gender equality efforts and advancement. Companies are communities embedded within larger cultures, and the Engendering Industries approach illustrates how broader gender and socio-cultural norms impact the gender dynamics of a workplace. The approach invites participants to reflect, analyze, and learn how socially-learned constructs of masculinity contribute to gender inequality, and how healthy masculinity contributes to gender equality in society and the workplace.
- Ongoing technical support. In partnership with Equimundo and Engendering Industries change management coaches, the program provides long-term support to companies and male allies, empowering them to identify gaps, design and implement tailor-made strategic interventions, overcome roadblocks, barriers, or challenges that arise in the change process and ultimately to achieve results. The long-term support reinforces the knowledge, and overtime builds the confidence needed for the champions to engage their colleagues and peers as well as sustain change.
The Role of Communication in Engaging Men
Some companies that participate in men’s engagement workshops have gone on to use communication platforms, including social media, internal campaigns, video, and other forms of communication, to increase the visibility of male gender equality champions. Examples of this include men IBEDC employees speaking at women’s career events, IBEDC social media videos highlighting men’s allyship for gender equality, and men representatives from EDESUR, BRPL, and IBEDC speaking at the public Engaging Men for Gender Equality training manual launch event. Showcasing male champions for gender equality normalizes male allyship in a company and contributes to transforming organizational culture, often the most challenging aspect of organizational change.
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Changing Perspectives and Corporate Outcomes in Nigeria
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At Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) in Nigeria, engaging men for gender equality was identified as critical for transforming corporate culture, which reflected broader societal values, norms, and attitudes around gender roles. Working with their Engendering Industries change management coach, IBEDC began engaging men by creating a “Manbassadors" club, conducting workshops on masculinity, holding round table discussions, developing a men’s engagement strategy, and collaborating with MenEngage/Nigeria.
In 2022, to deepen the level of engagement, IBEDC participated in a Engendering Industries’ Men’s Engagement Workshop, facilitated in partnership with Equimundo. Through this work, IBEDC has improved their corporate culture by having several male gender equality allies at the executive level who participate in campaigns and other company communications related to gender equality. After participation in the workshops, they improved company communications and training related to the company’s new sexual harassment policy. Men have taken action to hire and promote women: following the workshop, one participant appointed women to spearhead teams in his department and saw a 30 percent increase in revenue collection. Several Manbassadors have also reported changes in their personal lives, especially their relationship with intimate partners and children.
A male men’s engagement training participant and IBEDC staff member reports: “My family life changed. I had this conception that I do a lot of work more than my wife, that she is just sitting at home doing nothing. In actual fact, she is doing more than me just not getting paid. I have a peaceful home now and I’m able to recognize that we are partners and it has made the family happy…I try to form a bond with the family now.”
