Upload
caleb-macpherson
View
221
Download
2
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
New VisionsChanging Young Men’s
Attitudes Toward Gender Relations in Egypt
Presented by Leah Freij, Ph.D.
Presentation
• Setting the context• How New Visions (NV) came
about• Objectives of NV• Description of NV program• KAP survey regarding gender
norms, roles and GBV• Achievements• Lessons learned
New Horizons (NH) Program
Non-formal education• High illiteracy rate – 70%• High fertility rate – 1 in 5 married
before 15• High rate of circumcision - 97% • Demystify & communicate RH• Basic life skills
62,582 girls completed NH
Why a Boys’ Program?
“How are we going to benefit and put this into action if men around us don't appreciate it? Can you please educate them.”
-a girl from Sohag
What about my father, brother and future husband? If they don't know these things, we will have difficulties getting our rights. Would you please provide them with the same information.”
-a girl from Qena
New Visions Program
• Complements NH• Responds to men’s distinct needs• Literate boys between 12-20 • Communities where NH has been
or was being delivered• Implemented in youth centers
Objectives of NV
Improve the life-skills, self-confidence, social competence
Increase knowledge on reproductive health
Increase gender sensitivity and awareness
New Visions Program
ImplementationPARTICIPATION2002 - 2004
NV
BENEFICIARIES 13,895
CLASSES 720
FACILITATORS 633
NGO/YC 180
GOVERNORATES 11
Pilot Phase – Pilot Phase – 20022002
Scale-up Phase – Scale-up Phase – 2003-042003-04
Challenges in Designing NV
• Safe space to participate in discussions
• Engage boys in formulating alternative masculinities
• Overcome cultural barriers on sensitive topics
• Community buy-in to involve young boys
• Girls and young women have rights
NEW VISIONS64 SESSIONSBOYS 12 - 20
MANUAL I• Values• Human emotions• Gender• Communications• Human relations• Marriage• Family• Puberty &
Adolescence• Reproductive Health
MANUAL II• Personal Health &
Nutrition• Life Skills• Work• Civil & Legal Rights• Health Rights• First Aid• Our Community• Environment• Planning for the
Future
MethodologyQuantitative Methodology – KAP
Survey KAP survey: 2 data points– baseline and post (~6
months later)
Qualitative Methodology Focus groups with beneficiaries, facilitators and
beneficiaries’ sisters Interviews with directors of youth clubsCity Matched Pairs
T1 and T2
Alexandria 131
Beni Suef 324
Minya 526
Qena 496
Total 1477
Selected Findings
• Gender Norms/Roles
• Gender-Based Violence
Changes in Attitudes on Gender Norms/Roles
Scales T1 T2 Min Max % Increase
1. Gender equality – food, clothing, freedom of mobility, age of marriage
3.8 5.1 0 6 22%
2. Spousal responsibility – involvement in decision -making ; pregnancy childbirth 2.3 3.9 0 4 38%
3. Gender roles – extent of disagreement on interchangeability of roles within and outside of the house 9.7 13.5 4 16 31%
Beneficiaries’ Quotes “Although I always obeyed
my mother, I felt emasculated because I didn’t really believe household chores were a man’s job. I discovered that it is acceptable for a man to help his wife and mother and began to perceive my mother in a different light.” –Ahmed
“I used to think that any girl walking alone in the street was loose and fair game for sexual harassment. We always used to harass girls, but since graduating from New Visions I have stopped doing this. I know that all girls are like my sisters. Now I treat the girls at the Youth Club as equals”—Amr
Changes in Attitudes on Gender-Based Violence
Scale T 1 T 2 Min Max%
Increase
4. Domestic violence –circumstance justifiable for husband to hit wife (talks to other men, answers back) 12.5 16.6 7 21 29%
5. General GBV – early marriage, FGM considered violence 4.4 5.2 0 6 12%
6. FGM – 3 items:(i) Preference to marry
(un)/circumcised woman
(ii) Benefits of FGM outweigh harms
(iii) Type of violence 5.1 6.8 2 8 27%
Quotes on Gender Based Violence
There is nothing called minor hitting and major hitting, it is all hitting and it is all degrading to women. However, Islam gave the man the right to hit one’s wife very superficially using a small stick just to make her understand that she did something wrong. However, it is a right one should only resort to if all other means are not working.—Facilitator (Qena)
We learned about the physical and psychological harms. We listened but as long as it conflicts with religion then that's it, we cannot be convinced by it.—
Beneficiary
We started to respect our sisters. In the past we used to think that we own them. –Beneficiary
Voices of Stakeholders & Facilitators
“Not only were we convinced, we felt guilty. I remember by heart, the words of one religious leader at the seminar who said that ‘FGM is a cheap victory on a girls’ freedom.” —Director of YC
“After I joined the program I realized that [FGM] constitutes physical violence because it involves the removal of a part of the female’s body. It also constitutes psychological violence because it affects the sexual relationship negatively and thus can lead to divorce.”
—Facilitator
Achievements
• Broke silence on FGM & changed attitudes on domestic violence
• Introduced concept of rights-based gender equality
• Youth centers “safe spaces” for girls
Lessons Learned
Both men and women are constrained by societal norms. For true partnership to take place, it is necessary for individual to examine their own roles, their roles in relation to one another, and within the context of the society at large.