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Date Added to Site: 28th April 2008 |
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Short Summary
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| Title |
Men, Health and Gender Equality: A Report on the National Men’s Imbizo
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| Author |
Greig, A. |
| Publication Date |
September 2007 |
| Donor |
DFID
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Short Summary
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Gender inequalities that privilege men damage women's health, at the same time as the norms associated with masculinity harm men's health. Often being a man is associated with a sense of invulnerability and self-reliance, leading to a reluctance to seek health advice and health care. While more coordinated strategies to improve women's health have been developed in South Africa, comprehensive national guidelines and policies to improve the health, and especially the sexual and reproductive health, of men and boys is sorely lacking. The National Men's Imbizo - a forum for enhancing dialogue and interaction between government and the people - marked an important step in a process of elaborating and translating such an approach into policy guidance to be issued by the National Department of Health. Presentations on bio-medical and psycho-social aspects of gender and health in the lives of men were followed by ten 'commissions' - groups to discuss questions on men and gender equality in relation to different health and social conditions. Such questions included 'What makes it difficult for you or other men to use sexual and reproductive health services?', 'How could you or other men prevent violence more effectively?' and 'What roles should men play in the lives of their children?'. The meeting revealed not only a deep hunger among men for more information on their health and their bodies, but also some of the key tensions that policy must address. Policy on men, health and gender equality must take a twin-track approach - to address both male power and its influence on women's health, and gender norms and their influence on men's health.
This paper was written for an international symposium on 'Politicising Masculinities', organised by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). The symposium took place in October 2007 in Dakar, Senegal.
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| Summary Source |
Summary - draws on the resource |
| Complete Document |
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