Working with Men and Boys to End Violence against Women in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

This document, presented at the Regional Conference on Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Muslim Societies, March 11-12 2009, Jakarta, Indonesia, discusses strategies to engage men and boys in eliminating gender-based violence against women (GBV), such as: a) researching men and masculinity; b) promoting a new concept of masculinity; c) mobilising men to engage in the anti-violence-against-women movement; and d) providing a behavioural change programme for abusive husbands.

The document lists the following types of initiatives that have surfaced in Indonesia focusing on the problem of GBV: women's crisis centres; campaigning on GBV; provision of direct services to survivors of GBV; and advocacy to produce policy on protection for women from GBV. As a result, GBV is recognised as a public, rather than a private, matter and an issue of both human rights and health. However, as stated here, these initiatives focus on women, with the result that the majority of men do not recognise GBV as their concern. "In Indonesian context, the discussion on role of men in ending violence against women emerged in Yogyakarta [Indonesia] at the end of 2007 during a seminar on strategy formulation of involving men in ending violence against women in Indonesia. Seminar came out with 'Yogyakarta document' that identify 4 strategic sectors for men’s involvement, e.g. education, health, legal, and religion."

The organisation Rifka Annisa works with men and boys from the perspective that patriarchal traditions encourage the portrayal of the unequal conceptualisation of the opposite gender, thus requiring the rebuilding of concepts of manhood and womanhood as a basis for behaviour change in men and empowerment for women. Rifka Annisa has been developing initiatives to address this process, divided into several strategies: a) researching men and masculinity; b) promoting a new concept of masculinity; c) building space for men to talk about themselves; d) mobilising men and boys to engage in anti-violence-against-women campaigning; and e) initiating a behavioural change counselling programme. Their research has sought to: a) identify men’s view on masculinity; b) identify factors that influence men’s view on masculinity; and c) identify men’s view about domestic violence. It found that male leadership of women was both a cultural and religious value that needed to be replaced with a new concept of masculinity, which they chose to promote via the media, including posters, leaflets, booklets, and talk shows. The organisation also used sports, debate in English, and musical performance as a basis for competitions to engage young boys in a campaign called "Real Boys, Care for Others". For men, Rifka Annisa opened a regular radio programme, entitled "Gentlemen Hotline". This weekly live interactive radio talk show discussed some of the issues around men in their daily lives, such as becoming men, men and violence, becoming a household father, fatherhood, men and sport, men and alcohol, and anger management. They invited men to a 2007 rally where they, in the company of the city mayor and provincial governor, stated in writing their opposition to GBV. Rifka Annisa launched a behavioural change counselling programme for abusive male partners in 2007. There are 12 sessions on behavioural change in the programme, which is conducted on a voluntary basis. This means that men are attending the counselling not due to a court order, but rather at the request of the wife or on the man’s own initiative.

Lessons learned include the following:

• It is important to involve men in GBV initiatives.
  
• A male involvement strategy is important to build a public image that GBV is not only a women’s problem, but a problem of men and women.
  
• Engaging men in ending GBV is about changing men’s knowledge, attitude, and behaviour as a lifelong work. Sustainability is an important issue in working with men and boys.
  
• Working with men and boys has lots of challenges, requiring enough energy to work with them in the long term.
  
• Involving public figures such as community leaders, religious leaders, and top-level officers of government institutions is important as role modelling for men.