Addressing Men and Masculinities in GAD

Abstract

Summaries The GAD approach in both concept and practice has been inconsistent in its treatment of men and masculinities. In their work on mainstreaming gender in policy and planning, the authors have tried to confront these inconsistencies in a number of ways. This article reviews the way men and masculinties have been addressed in GAD, drawing primarily on the Development Planning Unit (DPU), University College London's academic, training and advisory work in this field. This article is structured around four main areas. The first places the DPU's approach in the wider WID/GAD debates of the 1990s, and discusses the rationale for incorporating men and masculinties into a transformative view of GAD. The next section discusses the ways in which men and masculinities have been incorporated into the concepts and tools which make up the DPU's gender mainstreaming methodology. Taking the example of training, the third section focuses on men and masculinities through the experience of working with women and men as trainees and trainers. In conclusion the authors summarise their view of the dangers and positive reasons for the incorporation of men and masculinities into gender mainstreaming methodologies.