Progressive Policy Approaches to Effectively Engage Men and Boys in Countering Backlash on Rights, Gender Equality, and Democracy

Introduction

This summary report explores how engaging men and boys, transforming patriarchal masculinities, and strengthening feminist coalitions can help counter the growing global backlash against gender equality, human rights, and democracy.

Developed following the high-level side event ​“Progressive Policy Approaches to Effectively Engage Men and Boys in Countering Backlash on Rights, Gender Equality and Democracy” at the 70^th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), this report examines the growing global backlash against gender equality, human rights, and democracy.

The report argues that backlash against gender equality is no longer isolated resistance; it has become a coordinated political project aimed at reshaping laws, institutions, and public discourse to preserve patriarchal power. Anti-rights actors strategically use misinformation, discriminatory policies, digital platforms, and coordinated political messaging to undermine human rights, democracy, and feminist gains. 

By framing gender equality as a threat to family values, religion, culture, national identity, and sovereignty, these narratives fuel fear, deepen social divisions, and legitimize attacks on women’s rights, LGBTIQ rights, and civic space. Technology has further accelerated the spread and influence of these narratives, with the manosphere and misogynistic online movements amplifying anti-rights messaging across digital platforms and strengthening their political reach.

This report argues that engaging men and boys must become a political, institutional, and structural strategy.

• From men as allies to men as gendered political actors with a stake in advancing democracy, human rights, and gender equality.
• From short-term projects to long-term institutional change embedded in laws, governance, education, workplaces, and public systems.
• From working only with marginalized men to engaging men in positions of political and institutional power, where policies and decisions are shaped.
• From fragmented initiatives to coordinated feminist coalitions that integrate work on masculinities alongside broader gender justice, democracy, climate, and human rights movements.

Who is this resource for?

Governments

• Institutionalize work with men and boys through dedicated mandates, budgets, and accountability mechanisms.
• Embed gender equality and feminist principles into governance and public institutions.
• Engage male political leaders as champions for policy reform.

Donors

• Provide long-term, flexible funding for feminist and gender-transformative work.
• Resource masculinities work without reducing funding for women-led organizations.
• Invest strategically to match the scale of organized backlash.

Civil Society

• Build cross-movement alliances across gender justice, democracy, climate, and human rights.
• Counter anti-rights narratives through locally relevant messaging and positive role models.
• Hold digital platforms accountable for online misogyny and gender-based violence.

About the authors

This report was developed by the Men, Masculinities and Countering Backlash Collective in collaboration with the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI), Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM), the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), the Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative (FFPC), and other partners who wish to remain anonymous for safety reasons.

Find out more

Explore the additional resources here that we developed on countering the backlash

• A Call to Action: Progressive Policy Approaches to Effectively Engage Men and Boys in Countering Backlash on Rights, Gender Equality, and Democracy
• 10 Ways To Engage Men And Boys to Counter Backlash