10 Ways to Engage Men & Boys to Counter Backlash - UN General Assembly Side Event

Across the globe, anti-gender and anti-rights movements are gaining ground, weaponizing patriarchal masculinities to reinforce traditional power hierarchies, roll back human rights, and weaken efforts toward gender equality, democracy, and climate justice. 

Join us on the sidelines of the 80^th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA80) as we explore these issues and introduce a new resource for advocates working to counter the backlash by engaging men and boys.

• Learn about a new factsheet and guidance 10 Ways to Engage Men & Boys to Counter Backlash.
• Listen to the panelists’ analysis on the role of masculinities in fueling anti-gender backlash.
• Learn about strategies for engaging men and boys as allies in advancing gender, social, and climate justice.
• Engage in a platform for reflection and collective action across national and global levels.

This event brought together:

• Policymakers and UN delegates attending UNGA80
• Civil society leaders and activists working on gender equality, democracy, and climate justice
• Academics and practitioners focused on masculinities, human rights, and countering backlash
• Media, donors, and UN agencies seeking strategies to strengthen gender justice

Discussants

• Alexander De Croo, Former PM of Belgium (Author of The Age of Women: Why Feminism also Liberates Men) 
• Lopa Banerjee, Director Civil Society Division UN Women
• Alex DiBranco, The Institute for Research on Male Supremacism (IRMS)
• Alan Greig, Consultant-Men and Masculinities 
• Nayana Chowdhury, CEO-Breakthrough 
• Ayesha Mago, Director-Advocacy and Policy, SVRI
• Jennifer Bruno, Advocacy Manager, MenEngage Alliance
• Laxman Belbase, Co-Director, MenEngage Alliance

Countering backlash Resources shared by panelists 

• Reflections from UN Women’s CSW69 Push Forward Dialogues (UN Women)
• Understanding Backlash Against Gender Equality — Evidence, Trends and Policy Responses (UN Women and UNRISD)
• Women’s Rights in Review 30 Years After Beijing (UN Women)Thought piece on Instructed Victimhood (Women’s Agenda)
• ‘It’s a scary time’: Sophie Lewis on the ​‘enemy feminisms’ that enable the far right (The Guardian) 
• This is Not a Critique: Reactionary Digital Politics in the Age of Ideological Entrepreneurship (Alan Finlayson)
• Five ways to address male supremacist ideology and violence (Ms Magazine) based on a 2021 report by the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism/​​New America .
• Good Guys, Bad Guys: The Perils of Men’s Gender Activism, a book by Institute for Research on Male Supremacism cofounder Dr. Emily Carian’s. In it, Eily Carian interviews men’s rights activists and feminist men to understand their motivations and deficiencies in the search for gender justice. There’s also a podcast interview with Carian that can introduce people to the themes discussed in the book.
• Learning from the Leavers? The Promise (and Perils) of r/​​IncelExit GNET article by IRMS Fellow Allysa Czerwinsky 
• Education is the Cornerstone of Democracy. This 2022 keynote panel invited speakers to discuss the significance and opportunities for K‑12 education in sustaining democracy and humanization in order to redirect late-stage individualised interventions against violent extremism toward broad-based cultural interventions.
• The Age of Women: Why Feminism Also Liberates Men, a book by Alexander de Croo