Bridging Men’s and Women’s Gender Activism: An Analysis of the Male Involvement Discourse in the Gender, Antiviolence and HIV/AIDS Sector in South Africa

Abstract

Aim and research questions: In recent years rising attention has been drawn to boys, men and masculinities within the field of gender and sexual and reproductive health and rights. Given this partial shift from a previous strong focus on women, this thesis addresses the linkages between, on the one hand, male gender, antiviolence and HIV/AIDS activism, and on the other hand women’s collective action and possibilities to continue defining objectives in the struggles against gender inequality, HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence. The purpose of the study is to analyse gendered power relations in the male involvement discourse in relation to the bridging of men’s and women’s gender, antiviolence and HIV/AIDS activism. This global discourse is analysed in a South African context. My specific research questions are: - How are different positions in the male involvement discourse constructed – specifically in relation to the formation of links between men’s and women’s gender activism? - What gender and power analyses underlie arguments and practices related to creating such links? - What is the role of donors and international development cooperation in the male involvement discourse in relation to forming such links? Method and material: The study is based on a discourse analysis of documents, participatory observations and, most of all, semi-structured interviews with representatives of gender, antiviolence and HIV/AIDS organisations focusing on men (Sonke Gender Justice Network and EngenderHealth), women’s rights organisations (People Opposing Women Abuse, Yabonga and Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre) and donors (Sida and USAID). The discourse analytical framework chosen is inspired mainly by Foucault, Laclau and Mouffe. Main results and conclusions: This thesis points at a number of ambivalences in the male involvement discourse and its intersection with the partnership discourse. By exploring these, the study demonstrates how gendered power relations are resisted and reproduced in arguments and practices related to bridging men’s and women’s gender activism. Creating such links is a means to resist gendered power relations potentially reproduced in work with men. However, by exploring positions of resistance within the male involvement and partnership discourses, this thesis also shows how these discursive practices arguably obscures gendered power relations still reproduced in such partnerships. Moreover, a dualistic and deterministic view of men and women as belonging to two different and somewhat homogenous groups is frequently reinforced and resisted. The study also draws attention to the role of international development cooperation in relation to creating such links. It shows how hierarchies in the relation between donors and recipients, frequently corresponding to power relations between the Global North and the Global South, intersect with the complex gendered power relations in focus here.