Beyond just male engagement: The future of addressing masculinities in sexual and reproductive health programmes and policies

Overview

Achieving gender equality while improving sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for all includes revisiting gender norms related to masculinities. SRHR research, policies and programmes addressing masculinities must go beyond engaging with men and boys as individuals, to address how gender norms, power relations and roles are addressed in homes, communities, institutions and laws and policies.

Through an inclusive and systematic process of engagement with global stakeholders, a research priority setting exercise has outlined an agenda to steer the next decades of research funding and research on masculinities and SRHR.

A global research priority setting exercise was commissioned by the World Health Organization’s Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research in collaboration with the Queen’s University Belfast, MenEngage Alliance, University of Western Cape and Stellenbosch Universities. Results have been published in a Lancet Global Health article.