RIGHTS-LATIN AMERICA:
Men Have Gender Issues,
Too
By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA, (IPS) -
Although it may seem
obvious, the need to
involve men in the
effort to attain gender
equality is not clear to
everyone in Latin
America and the
Caribbean, where quite a
few people think it is
an issue that mainly
concerns the women’s
rights movement.
The view that women are
the only victims of the
region’s dominant
patriarchal system
hinders serious
consideration of the
inequalities inherent in
social constructions of
masculinity, which
oppress men with their
rigid hierarchies,
pecking order and
relationships of
dominance and
submission.
"Until we scrutinise
men’s social roles and
the concept of
masculinity, we’ll just
be drawing circles
around the women victims
of the system," Julio
César González, the
Cuban general
coordinator of the Ibero-American
Masculinity Network,
told IPS.
According to its web
site, the regional
network organises
regular "workshops with
social workers,
university students,
police, prisoners,
ethnic and racial
groups, and local
officials, with the
common purpose of
discussing major men’s
issues and problems, and
proposing alternative
ways in which men can
change."
"If we engage men in the
debate, we shall see
that we are also victims
of social constructions,
although we in turn
victimise women. There
are inequalities among
men as well, that is,
violence is constantly
reproduced and is
constantly mutating in
multiple ways," González
said.
The university
professor, who embarked
on gender studies over
20 years ago, is Cuba’s
pioneer in masculinity
research. When he put
his ideas into practice
outside academia,
however, he encountered
resistance from people
clinging to the
customary stereotypes.
But he also developed
more harmonious
relations with his
family and friends.
In his classes at the
University of Havana, he
finds that what makes
the greatest difference
is the opportunity for
making personal and
collective changes, "if
there is sufficient
motivation to do so.
That motivation can come
through reflection, a
group experience, or
something seen in the
media or in some public
place," he said.
However, he warned, "an
appropriate methodology
must be used, otherwise
workshops on masculinity
can end up simply
reinforcing ‘machismo’,"
or producing a
"sophisticated
justification of
inequality," because of
mistaken premises in the
theory or methodology.
González acknowledges
that in spite of the
greater visibility of
gender discourse in the
media and in education,
"men have not moved very
far from their original
position" on the issue.
"I see no real changes,
either at the local or
the global levels," he
said.
According to Isabel Moya,
head of the state
Editorial de la Mujer
(Women’s Publishing
House), "the roles of
men and women in Cuban
society today are often
hybrid, with new
practices existing side
by side with the old
ones, because although
men are participating
more in fathering roles,
they are still saying
that they ‘help out in
the home’," rather than
taking equal
responsibility.
"This is an interesting
time in Cuba, a period
of reconstruction, but
traditional values,
value judgments and
stereotypes about women
still carry enormous
weight. Fifty years (of
socialism) are nothing
compared to 500 years of
patriarchal Judaeo-Christian
acculturation," Moya
said.
In five decades of
socialist government,
Cuban authorities have
promoted full
integration of women in
areas previously
considered exclusively
male preserves, which
has led to a gradual
decline in the social
acceptability of
machismo as the norm.
Data from the National
Office of Statistics
indicate that women
occupy 43 percent of the
seats in the National
Assembly (parliament),
and account for about 66
percent of the technical
and professional
workforce. By contrast,
though, only 38 percent
of top jobs in
organisations and 27
percent of town
councillors are women.
Tomás Rodríguez, a
professor at the
Technological University
in Guayaquil, Ecuador
who is married to a
Cuban, has tried to
create "fully democratic
practices, with equal
responsibilities, rights
and duties" in his
marriage and family
life.
Rodríguez, 28, says he
thinks it is important
not to broach the
subject of the battle of
the sexes in a
confrontational spirit,
an approach which in his
view is still all too
prevalent. "It isn’t
about exchanging power
roles, but about
developing dialogue,
openness, respect and,
of course, equity," he
said.
"We are not aiming at a
society in which women
have the dominant role,
nor at exchanging a
machista society for one
that excludes men or
confines them to the
home," Argentine
journalist Carina
Ambrogi told IPS. "We
want equality, with
differences that are
freely chosen, not
imposed."
Ximena Cabral, a
journalist and professor
at the National
University of Córdoba,
in Argentina, said that
"feminism is regarded as
synonymous with
radicalisation, and not
with a proposal that
emphasises politics,
inequality, impunity,
and all the other
issues" raised by living
in the strait-jacket of
a stereotype.
Gabriela Romero, 33,
also from Argentina,
views the study of
masculinity as
promising, "because we
think it is the way to
draw men into this
effort, but we cannot
ignore the fact that
women are more sensitive
to gender issues, and in
this area are definitely
in the vanguard," she
told IPS.
"We are not trying to
achieve superiority for
women over men, but to
help all persons, men
and women, find ways of
being fully themselves
in society, whatever
their sexual
orientation, race or
disability," said Moya,
a well-known activist
for women’s rights in
intellectual and press
circles on this island. |
