Working with Men in Positions of Political Power: A New MenEngage Initiative

MenEngage Alliance is excited to launch a new initiative aimed at developing — and later implementing — a strategy and methodology for engaging men in positions of political power to advance gender justice.

This initiative focuses on men who hold institutional and political influence: parliamentarians, ministers and deputy ministers, ambassadors and diplomatic staff, permanent mission representatives in UN spaces, candidates for political office, and other public officials at local, national, regional and global levels.

Why This Initiative?

We support feminist and women’s rights movements in pushing for a world where all genders and identities are represented equitably in political leadership. Yet today’s reality is that men make up an outsized proportion of those with political power in governance and legislative positions. These men shape laws, policies and political institutions that affect our lives, but few have been effectively engaged in transformative gender justice work or in undergoing their own internal transformative journey to dismantle patriarchal ways of leading.

We need to see more men in power promoting reforms that advance equality, care and justice and showing up as accountable agents of systemic change. We want these men in leadership demonstrating alternative models of masculinities based on care, non-violence, equity, and inclusion, setting new precedents for men in general. 

Members of MenEngage and feminist allies have already been doing advocacy with and around these men — sometimes as part of broader campaigns, sometimes through direct dialogue or policy influence. We believe this moment is ripe to learn from those experiences and bring together lessons, reflections, and strategies — while also avoiding pitfalls such as superficial ​“male champion” approaches that reinforce male dominance.

This initiative asks two guiding questions:

• How can we influence men in positions of political power to advance gender justice?
• What kind of invitation should we extend to these men?

We envision a practical yet transformative approach for engaging men in political power — one that supports personal reflection, institutional accountability, and systemic change. The ultimate aim is a flexible methodology that MenEngage members can adapt to their own contexts (be it local, national, regional or global) and advocacy efforts. We imagine some creative forms of training, sensitization, accompaniment and partnerships, among other strategic modalities, may come up from this process.

The initiative will begin with a consultation phase, which includes:

• A literature review of existing initiatives and lessons specifically focused on working with men in positions of power
• Focus groups and interviews with stakeholders, including MenEngage members, feminist advocates, and men in power
• Town hall-style sessions and webinars to spark collective learning and discussion
• Pilot testing of the draft methodology in selected contexts — towards arriving at a final methodology

How You Can Take Part

We invite you to be part of this journey. Whether you have done this work before or are just interested, there are many ways to engage:

• Share tools, resources, or case studies from your region
• Suggest stakeholders or policy spaces we should consider
• Join a consultation, interview, or focus group
• Participate in our town halls or webinars (starting later this year)
• Help pilot the new approach once it is developed

If you are interested, please fill out this brief survey—it takes just 3 – 5 minutes.

Together, we can co-create a powerful strategy and methodology that contributes to shifting how power is used in the pursuit of gender justice.

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Image credit: Collage created by Tom Hornbrook, MenEngage Alliance, courtesy of photographs by UNDP used under Creative Commons.