Men standing up for gender equality
The project in short
MFGE (‘Les hommes s'engagent pour l'égalité femmes-hommes’) is a project to combat violence against women. The project is aimed in particular at men, who are not sufficiently targeted by projects to combat gender-based violence.
The project was submitted to the European Commission in 2018 by a consortium made up of FEA and two German women's rights associations: Lessan e.V and Terre des Femmes e.V, with Lessan e.V coordinating the project.
The project lasted 2 years, from September 2019 to August 2021.
The activities involved :
recruiting, training and supporting 10 mediators from migrant and refugee populations ;
organising awareness-raising workshops led by these mediators for other men;
the production of a training manual for professionals‧les ;
the training of professionals‧les, and
the dissemination of a communication campaign on social networks.
The activities were simultaneously implemented in Hamburg by Lessan, in Berlin by Terre des Femmes and in Paris by FEA, with meetings taking place with project stakeholders in the different cities.
​
Why work with men in a project to combat violence against women?
​
Gender-based violence is deeply rooted in gender imbalance, inherent gender roles and power relations that emanate from male-dominated social and cultural structures.
Violence against women is a violation of human rights. Eradicating violence requires the participation of everyone.
Men have a role to play in helping to put an end to violence. Encouraging them to become aware of their ‘male’ privileges, to question them and to establish new role models are the first steps towards gender equality.
FEA mediators have been recruited for their commitment to the principles of gender equality and the abandonment of all forms of violence against girls and women. They are leaders in their families and communities.
Through their membership of community associations and large groups on social networks, they are able to convey messages in favour of changing behaviour towards women to a wide audience.
​
Who are FEA's mediators ?
​
Between December 2019 and June 2020, 10 mediators have been recruited. They were identified in partnership with associations working with refugees, such as SINGA, Causons, BAAM or by word of mouth.
The mediators recruited come from Guinea, Senegal, Sudan, Chad, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and are aged between 23 and 48.
They share the principles of gender equality and campaign against all forms of violence against girls and women. They have shown that they are motivated to change the attitudes of those around them.
They have received training on sexist stereotypes, gender-based violence, domestic violence, forced and/or early marriages, female genital mutilation, sexual and reproductive health and rights, awareness-raising and communication techniques and how to deal with resistance.
​
A few milestones of the project ​
​
Once trained, the mediators organised awareness-raising workshops for their peers. Although the workshops were originally intended to be face-to-face, the mediators had to be imaginative and resourceful in order to carry out their work in the context of the Covid-19 restrictions.
Some sessions took place face-to-face, in small groups or face-to-face, but others took place online or in the form of live broadcasts on social networks, radio podcasts or videos shared on social networks.
​
In total, 4574 persons were sensitised
to gender-based violence in general, gender equality, domestic violence, excision,
domestic violence, female genital mutilation and/or forced and/or early marriages.
The participants‧es appreciated these sessions, and if a few ones questioned the change of traditional practices, or will not change their behaviour in the immediate future, most of them will not change their behaviour in the near future, most of them recognised that gender violence had to stop.
​
‘I knew about forms of violence against women (...) but this is the first time I've seen it as something unacceptable’.
‘People in our community don't know much about it. Everyone thinks that physical violence is the only form of violence against women, but there can be several types of violence. We need to learn how to combat this problem.’
​