Men As Partners

First of all, thank you to those who have expressed concern about the recent events in Mali. We are safe here in Burkina, although some volunteers in the North of the country have been offered site changes due to the increasing influence of Al Qaeda and the influx of refugees. The American embassy continues to have regular security briefings and is keeping us updated on the situation.

Throughout my service in Burkina Faso, the issue that resurfaces daily as one of the biggest development challenges is the severe level of inequality between men and women. It is so deeply rooted in the culture that even talking about making changes in this area is taboo. And the longer I live and work here, the more I believe that this is not merely a peripheral issue. Rather, it is through solving this problem that we will realize greater economic prosperity, educational results, and health outcomes not just in Burkina Faso but in sub-Saharan Africa more generally.

UN studies and global news headlines echo this conclusion. For example, studies have demonstrated over and over again that educated women have fewer, healthier, and better educated children. One of the most effective tools we have for lowering the rate of both infant mortality and maternal mortality is educating our girls. In terms of economic development, women represent more than 50% of a country’s population and are therefore crucial to making a country competitive. And when women do have their own income they spend, on average, 80 cents per dollar that they earn on their family (men put 30 cents towards the family on average).

But most development approaches which aim to foster gender equality ignore the key demographic essential to this effort—men.

In Burkinabe culture, men are the decision makers. The change in women’s status necessitates male involvement because men possess great influence as the heads of their households and communities. It is with this idea in mind that Peace Corps sponsors a “Men as Partners” conference where interested volunteers bring motivated male counterparts from their villages to discuss women’s empowerment.

Over the course of four days, we discussed some of the controversial issues relating to gender equality in Burkina Faso including the spectrum of violence (sexual, physical, psychological, and economic), family planning, and the division of labor in the household. Many of the topics were sensitive, such as “dry” sex as a form of sexual violence and whether or not rape was possible within a marriage. The Burkinabe homologues will bring the importance of gender equality back to their sites and educate their community members on this issue in both formal and informal settings.

To demonstrate women’s heavy domestic burden, we had a relay race with a men’s team and a women’s team. One person from each team had to run over and grab an item that represented a task that their particular gender was responsible for (a cooking pot, bucket, and spoon for the women and a beer bottle and agricultural tool for the men). The members of the women’s team also had to do the entire race with a skirt attached.

 

Acting out a skit for the rest of the group. Here, we acted out the scenario using aggressive communication, as opposed to passive or assertive.