Equality on His Terms : Doing and Undoing Gender through Men’s Discussion Groups
Efforts to promote gender equality often encourage changes to interpersonal interactions as a way of undermining gender hierarchy. Such programs are premised on the idea that the gender system can be undone when individuals behave in ways that chal...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Sage Publications
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/291351581479827090/Equality-on-his-Terms-Doing-and-Undoing-Gender-through-Men-s-Discussion-Groups http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33335 |
| Summary: | Efforts to promote gender equality often
encourage changes to interpersonal interactions as a way of
undermining gender hierarchy. Such programs are premised on
the idea that the gender system can be undone when
individuals behave in ways that challenge prevailing gender
norms. However, scholars know little about whether and under
what conditions real changes to the gender system can result
from changed behaviors. The authors use the context of a
gender sensitization program in the Democratic Republic of
Congo to examine prospects for transformative change at the
interactional level of the gender system. Over nine months,
the authors observed significant changes in men’s quotidian
practices. Further, the authors identified a new commitment
among many men to a more equal division of household labor.
However, participants consistently undermined the
transformative potential of these behavioral changes through
their dedication to maintaining control over the objective,
process, and meaning of change, resisting conceptions of
equality that challenged the gender system. Because
quotidian changes left gender hierarchy intact, they appear
unlikely to destabilize the logics that legitimate women’s subordination. |
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