Global Symposium – The Coffee Break

To get a good idea of just how many people, from many different countries, attended the conference, you just had to be there during the coffee break.

Rio Call To Action Updates

The Rio Call to Action has been posted on the official Engagingmen2009 website.

You can view it, and any updates that follow here: http://www.engagingmen2009.org/24

Please send any comments to menengage@menengage.org.br

The Rio Declaration

Global Symposium on Engaging Men and Boys on
Achieving Gender Equality
Rio de Janeiro
March 29 – April 3, 2009

PART ONE: PREAMBLE
We come from eighty countries. We are men and women, young and old, working side by side with respect and shared goals. We are active in community organizations, religious and educational institutions; we are representatives of governments, NGOs and the United Nations. We speak many languages, we look like the diverse peoples of the world and carry their diverse beliefs and religions, cultures, physical abilities, and sexual and gender identities. We are indigenous peoples, immigrants, and ones whose ancestors moved across the planet. We are fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, brothers and sisters, partners and lovers, husbands and wives.

The Kitchen Table

The Kitchen Table

I wanted to share this great poster from Wo=Men Dutch Gender Platform.

Engaging Youth

Youth Activists

I didn’t got to any of the morning sessions yesterday as they were not necesarily relevant to my interests in doing this work. However if any one did attend Men, Health, Sexuality and HIV/AIDS or Men, Masculinities, HIV and AIDS and would like to share their thoughts and opinions, please let me know.

I did attend Youth Activism for Achieving Gender Equality and was really blown away by the passion, drive and creativity of the youth activists. They have all embraced new media, digital story telling and energetic activism with amazing results.

The session only became bogged down when the audience (of mostly 30 somethings, of which I was one) tried to engage the youth. I have noticed that, without trying to lay blame, a lot of people have a lot to say (which there is inherently nothing wrong with) about the amazing work they are doing. Unfortunately they aren’t able to speak about their work and experiences in an appropriate forum, which often leads to over-indulgent testimonials when concise questions are needed instead to engage presenters and audience alike in a question/answer style activity.

That being said, it is great to see how excited and passionate everyone is.

Images From Around The Symposium

L-R: Uif Rikter-Svendsen, Maria Jose Alcacia, Douglas Mendoza, Rache Jewkes

Audience in Quartzo A+B

Jackson Katz

‘Rio Call To Action’

Youth Activists L-R: Samuel Marques, Dajan Javorac, Ghita Antra, Pallavi Kamiesh

Coffee Break

Communal laptops and iffy wifi have stymied a few of my posting attempts unfortunately. We have some great video but it has been, so far, troublesome to upload.

The Plenary Sessions started in earnest yesterday morning. Two things were said during Dialogue With Women’s Rights Movements that I found very poignant. First from Michael Kimmel (paraphrasing from my notes) “never forget we are here because of the work of women” which he then summed up as “premature self-congratulation.”

Secondly from Judith Bruce, referring to a difficult and distasteful meeting she had with some rather misogynistic doctors (again paraphrasing) “if you’ve got someone to tell it to, you can make it through anything”

Unfortunately I missed the second session Including Men and Masculinities In Gender Equality Policies, but a friend gave me a summary: “Norway and Spain are the best places to live if you’re looking for gender equity.” Which I discovered for myself later in the day during Uif Rikter-Svendsen’s (Reform in Norway) presentation at Engaging Men to Prevent Violence Against Women And Girls. Unfortunately the rest of that session was very data-heavy and didn’t leave any room for engaging the audience.

The most engaging session of the day came, perhaps not surprisingly, from Jackson Katz during Men, Masculinities and Gender-based Violence. I had heard a lot of what he said when he was in Toronto in November, but it is always a moving experience.

The Global Village also got into high gear with displays from many like-minded organizations around the world, with more to come in the next two days.

As well the Rio Call To Action was available in the Atrium for participants to voice their opinions. If you haven’t done so already, this is your opportunity to have your say.

The best interaction I had yesterday, however, came after dinner, during a relaxed, informal discussion among colleagues. These are the sessions I look forward to most.

If anyone has pictures or a post they’d like to see here, please contact me at cjones@whiteribbon.ca

CJ

Images From Last Night’s Opening Session

Via FA & CJ:

Marcos Nascimento – Promundo/MenEngage

Gary Barker – ICRW/MenEngage

Todd Minerson – White Ribbon Campaign

L-R: Eva Njordfeld, Marcos Nascimento, Gary Barker, Benedito MEdrado, Alanna Armitage

Opening Session Gala

Ban Kim Moon Adresses The Symposium Via Video

Michel Sidibé – UNAIDS

Panoramic View

“There is no going back now…”

One, two skip a few, ninety-nine, four hundred and fifty.

To say that it has been a mind blowing day is an understatement. As the delegates came flooding into the atrium it became impossible for me to ignore that we are no longer a few guys toiling away, almost unseen, in a bleak corner of downtown Toronto.

I have had some excellent conversations, some off the record and on the beach, but all reaffirming the importance of this work.

The Opening Session got off to a late start, which is to be expected when you gather so many people from so many places around the globe, together for the first time to discuss and engage men and boys on social norms and gender equity. Putting faces to email addresses produces a gush of “WE HAVE SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT!”

Michel Sidibé, Executive Director UNAIDS, said it best during his Opening Sessions speach; “this is not just a meeting, it is a revolution in practice.”

Tomorrow the sessions beging in earnest. Here is my schedule for tomorrow:

Tuesday
9:00am: Dialogue with Women’s Rights Movements
11:00am: Including Men and Masculinities in Gender Equity Policies
2:30pm: Men, Masculinity and Gender-Based Violence
4:30pm: Engaging Men to Precent Violence Against Women and Girls

You can read the full week’s program here (PDF).

The title quote was from the Opening Session speach from by Inés Alberidi, Executive Director of UNIFEM. After these four days in Rio, there will be no turning back from engaging men and boys, addressing social norms and gender inequalities.

-CJ

Posteos en español

En este sitio también pondremos posteos en español.
Hoy lunes se realizó una reunión de la red global menengage, con cerca de 40 participantes. Se sigue articulando una red global.
El congreso comenzará en 40 minutos, con una inauguración en el hotel intercontinental, en san conrado, Rio de Janeiro Brasil. Sera cerca de 450 personas de todo el mundo, que trabajan con masculinidades y equidad de género en multiplicidad de temáticas.
FA.