Together for transformation men, masculinities and peacebuilding international

The theme of this year’s May 24 Pack might seem a little odd at first: Why are we celebrating the 2010 International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament with a publication that focuses on Men, Masculinities and Peacebuilding? What do men have to do with this? Men are a recurring topic within the women’s movement. We often discuss patriarchy and its many faces; we often talk about men beating their wives, men raping women during war, men dominating politics, economics, culture and religion… With all the neglect of women’s rights and the ridicule of feminism that we witness on a daily basis, we sometimes can’t help but think of men as quite a problematic category of people: a category which is often the cause of women’s suffering and which repeatedly frustrates our hard work for women’s equality…