Calling men and boys into gender justice and equality work in Europe: Roundtable Discussion
This in-person roundtable event will bring together key practitioners, policy makers and civil society organisation leaders to inform European policy approaches addressing masculinities and calling more men and boys into gender justice and equality work, by discussing current gender-transformative work practices with men and boys, lessons learned and concrete policy opportunities.
The EU Gender Equality Strategy 2026 – 2030 represents a promising improvement, building on the 2020 – 2025 strategy by explicitly seeking to further engagement of men and boys as key actors and beneficiaries of gender-equality progress. According to the European Commission, the new strategy “recognises the crucial role of men and boys, as agents and beneficiaries of gender equality”.
This roundtable discussion unpacks how policy responses which are being developed to implement this strategy can be more firmly grounded in feminist and gender-transformative approaches and reject anti-feminist narratives, while addressing patriarchal harms to men and boys.
Guiding questions
What seems to currently work in calling men and boys into gender justice and equality work, while staying accountable to feminist and LGBTQIA+ organisations?
What are some of the key lessons learned with gender-transformative work with men and boys, which are particularly interesting for national and European policy makers?
What are key opportunities currently for furthering this work from a policy point of view? What is one concrete thing a policymaker could do that would change your work most (funding, curriculum, data, regulation of platforms, etc)?
Co-organised by MenEngage Europe, MoveMen and Le Monde selon les femmes the session will explore current promising practices, key challenges, lessons learned and policy opportunities for calling more men and boys into gender equality and justice work across the region.
Do please get in touch with us at europe@menengage.org if you are interested to join the event in person in Brussels, either as a member of the audience or as an active roundtable participant. Then we will send you more information.
