Addressing restrictive masculinities is essential to inclusive development. Norms linking manhood to dominance, control, breadwinning and authority continue to constrain women’s empowerment while placing pressure on men to conform to rigid expectations and reinforce inequality. Transforming these norms is therefore critical to advancing gender equality, improving well-being and fostering more inclusive societies.
The new OECD report, Masculinity and Gender Equality: Insights from Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal, brings timely attention to the matter, where restrictive masculinities continue to shape women’s empowerment and broader gender equality outcomes. It builds on the OECD Development Centre’s work through the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) and the 2021 report Man Enough? Measuring Masculine Norms to Promote Women’s Empowerment, which together provide the conceptual foundation for this analysis.
Restrictive masculinities in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal remain organised around expectations of male provision, authority, control, and distance from care. These expectations constrain women’s economic empowerment, limit their agency in household and community life, and contribute to the persistence of gender-based violence. At the same time, they impose costs on men and boys by tying social recognition to ideals of masculinity that are increasingly difficult to fulfil. This unique OECD evidence also points to openings for change, particularly where care, non-violence, shared decision making and women’s economic participation are increasingly recognised as compatible with more positive and equitable forms of masculinity.
This event will provide an opportunity to:
- Present the report’s main findings and policy recommendations, highlighting their relevance for advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal.
- Facilitate strategic dialogue on advancing uptake of the recommendations, with particular attention to promoting positive masculinities to advance women’s economic empowerment, prevent gender-based violence, and supporting more equitable and fulfilling relationships, especially through shared caregiving, more equal decision-making, and respectful, non-violent relationships.
- Lay out recommendations for engaging men and boys as stakeholders, beneficiaries and agents of change by fostering equitable attitudes and behaviours that strengthen women’s agency, challenge harmful gender norms, reduce the acceptability of violence, and ease the pressures associated with rigid expectations of manhood.