Actor and activist Emma Watson; Undersecretary-general of the United Nations and head of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-NgcUka, head of Women Deliver, Katja Iversen, and Michael Kaufman. This years G7 meetings (both the gathering in Biarritz, France and many rounds of ministerial meetings) are over. But the issues raised in these meetings. Earlier this year…
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This year’s Oscar nominations tell us there is more afoot about men in Hollywood than sexual predators, harassers and those who exclude women. Yes, the gender equality revolution is certainly about women’s empowerment and ending abuse, but it’s also about reimagining and redefining men’s lives. This year’s nominees show us, though, just how difficult that…
In my new book, The Time Has Come. Why Men Must Join the Gender Equality Revolution, I draw on feminist analyses, women’s organizing, and women’s voices to make the moral, economic, political and social case for men to embrace efforts to achieve gender justice in our workplaces, homes, schools and nations. It would be…
by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN women, and Michael Kaufman For most people, the annual G7 meeting may just seem like an expensive photo-op that doesn’t connect with any concrete change in people’s lives. But for us, appointed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to sit on his G7…
Recently I was speaking to a vice president of a major bank. He was concerned about the slow pace for the advancement of women in his own company and beyond. He worried about the safety of his daughter who was at university. And he was horrified that some people are trying to roll back the…
It’s still a tough time for women in the tech industry. A recent survey of women working in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area found that 60% reported unwanted sexual advances. 87% reported hearing demeaning comments about women. 88% had clients or colleagues address questions to male peers that should have been addressed to them….
The recent announcement that China will relax its one-child policy immediately raised the question across the country: will parents actually have a second child? There are many reasons to want a second child, from the sheer delight of having more children to having that additional caregiver when we get old. But as every parent and…
We’re very pleased that our new novel, The Afghan Vampires Book Club, has been garnering some enthusiastic responses. Jane Fonda calls it, “A riveting story of love and war… A marriage of American Sniper and Heart of Darkness. I read it straight through in one sitting.” Scotland’s “The Herald” writes: “Partly a satirical broadside against the insanity…
The vast majority of people who kill and commit acts of violence are men, but it would be wrong to assume that men are hardwired to harm others, says Gary Barker in this guest blog pegged to the UK release of our new anti-war novel, The Afghan Vampires Book Club. More than 400,000 people are murdered…
This article first appeared in The Daily Beast on January 6, 2015 Tony has been accumulating identities. He’s the son of Mexican immigrants; his father was abusive. He’s a high school drop-out. He was a gang member and then an inmate who’d been jailed for gang activity and the use of a deadly weapon. Gang…
Earlier this year, the United Nations Girl’s Education Initiative videoed a five minute conversation with me about gender-based violence. They were interested in knowing more about the impact of violence against violence on girls and also on boys. We talked about why it’s an issue for men and the responsibility of all men to work…
With each passing hour, I am feeling angrier, sadder, and more disgusted as a result of the allegations coming from a growing number of women about Jian Ghomeshi, the host (until last weekend) of Canada’s most popular radio show (which is also broadcast in the United States.) I am not a close friend with Jian,…
A nasty, woman-hating group of men has created a fake White Ribbon website. Their goal is to spread myths about rape and violence against women, confuse people about the very real problem of men’s violence against women, and con people into giving them money. I’m very proud to reprint the response by the Canadian White…
This morning I had the pleasure of emailing my colleague Ziauddin Yousafzai to pass on my congratulations to his daughter Malala and to congratulate him and his wife Tor Pekai as well. Today Malala (along with the older child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi of India) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Some have said she…
Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite is my research associate. You can find her on Twitter @manishaclaire The new Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy has been a “surprise” hit at the box office, earning over $100 million in North America since its release last week. On the surface, GOTG showcases a new kind of superhero in Peter Quill,…
A version of this post originally appeared in The Telegraph (London, UK) on January 30, 2014 It’s been many years since I’ve heard anyone utter the words, “Act ladylike.” But it’s hard to go more than a few hours without hearing some version of “be a man”. I couldn’t even escape it this week while…
The fifth of a series with White Ribbon stories & links from around the world. Scroll down or click for: 1: Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, Part 2: The Americas, Part 3: Europe, Part 4: Asia, Middle East & Caucusas. And check out The Guardian article I co-wrote with Gary Barker: “We Must…
The fourth of a week-long series with White Ribbon stories & links from around the world. Scroll down or click for: 1: Australia, New Zealand and the south Pacific , Part 2: The Americas. or Part 3: Europe. And check out The Guardian article by Gary Barker and me, “We Must Enlist Men and…
The third of a week-long series with White Ribbon stories & links from around the world. Scroll down or click for: Part 1: Australia, New Zealand and the south Pacific or Part Two: The Americas. And check out The Guardian article by Gary Barker and me, “We Must Enlist Men and Boys in the Fight…
The second of a week-long series with White Ribbon stories & links from around the world. Scroll down or click here for part one: Australia, New Zealand and the south Pacific. And check out The Guardian article by Gary Barker and me, “We Must Enlist Men and Boys in the Fight to End Violence Against…
The first of a week-long series with White Ribbon stories & links from around the world… And check out The Guardian article by Gary Barker and me, “We Must Enlist Men and Boys in the Fight to End Violence Against Women” It’s a tragedy in every country. Extensive studies by the World Health Organization tell…
November 19th was apparently International Men’s Day (IMD). On the surface, it might seem like an idea whose time has come. After all, men are being proclaimed an endangered species. We’re dying younger and, in many countries, living in poorer health than women. Men are more likely to be in prison and less likely to…
(This post also appears at Huff Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-kaufman-phd/appalling-words-the-world_b_4132788.html ) An astonishing new UN Women ad campaign is showing what the world is saying about our daughters and the women in our lives. Using Google’s autocomplete function with various phrases (women shouldn’t, women need to, women cannot, and women should) the creator of the ad, Christopher Hunt,…
Fathers around the world: celebrate! October 11 is the UN day recognizing half of our children. We need this day because in many parts of the world, our daughters face obstacles that our sons could only imagine. Lower enrollment in school. Sexual harassment and assault on the streets, at school, or going to the well…
I’m pleased to publish this important post from my friend and colleague James Lang, from the UN’s Partner for Prevention program based in Bangkok. Throughout this past year, violence against women and girls has dominated the news starting with the horrifying story of the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old on a Delhi bus. Stories…
It’s been many years since the US Supreme Court acted like true purveyors of justice. When a majority of justices struck down the anti-gay Defence of Marriage Act and refused to overturn a California court decision (and thus paved the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage), it was certainly a big victory for the…
Even though I am only flying over the outback on the brief flight from Alice Springs to Uluru, forbidding is the word that springs to mind. The soil and rocks are orange and rusty-red although there is a surprising amount of a pale greyish green where stubborn desert plants and wispy trees are growing. River…
I’m pleased to publish this chilling guest blog by my friend and colleague Harry Brod. The Republican National Committee’s post-mortem report looking back at their electoral defeat argues that the “federal wing” of the party needs overhaul and repair. But this verdict from the national party establishment is getting pushback from local level activists, especially…
As uncomfortable as it can be, it is critical that men hear from women about their experiences of misogyny, the hatred of women. Doing so quickly raises a range of challenging questions: Perhaps the most interesting is not why certain, individual men hate women but whether misogyny is actually central to a male-dominated society? That…
The conviction of two young men for rape of an unconscious 16 year-old women in Steubenville, Ohio should lead us to much-needed discussion about attitudes towards sexual assault and the type of education and social changes we need to end it. Unfortunately, much of the mainstream media coverage of the verdict was atrocious: sympathy was…
It’s another day for most women in the world: breakfast is cooked, diapers are changed, fields are tended, computers switched on, patients treated, students taught, and houses cleaned. In the distance, groups of men thump the drums of war. They talk of the cleansing power of explosives stuffed into a car. They anonymously rain missiles…
Thousands of ambassadors, cabinet ministers, government officials and members of non-governmental organizations gather for the next two weeks at the United Nations for the annual meetings of the Commission on the Status of Women. The focus this year is the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls. I’m honoured to…
The New York Times asked several feminists to share their thoughts on the future of feminism on the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Betty Friedan’s landmark book, The Feminine Mystique. They also asked Michael Kimmel and me to add our own thoughts. The collection of short articles was published on February 18 as “Feminism’s…
My 2012 Valentine’s post — running again by request…. Valentine’s Day comes sugar-coated with images of flowers and chocolates, romance and love. Okay, it’s true: I’m a sucker for romance. Falling in love is a moment of such intensity that you simultaneously feel connected with every atom on the planet and yet are oblivious of…
This guest post is by Rahul Roy, a Delhi-based filmmaker who for many years has worked with men to support women’s rights and transform manhood. The last two weeks have provided an opportunity of re-narrating the sordid history of rape and rape trials in India. To me personally the only way to understand this sexual…
I was relieved that Romney and the Republicans lost, although not particularly excited about the policies or priorities of Obama and the Democrats. If Obama would like to cast himself into the history books as a great president, here are eight things he could do. 1. Clearly state that climate change is the planet’s number…
Thanks to blogger Connecticutie who created the idea and framework and blogger Brainwrap (both at dailykos.com) who added the quotes. The reality that people with such views have so much political power in the United States is truly scary.
Along with twelve other men I greatly admire, I was invited to contribute a small article to the Fall 2012 edition of Voice Male Magazine. (I encourage you to visit http://voicemalemagazine.org/ where you can download each issue — or, even better, please support this important voice for male-positive, pro-feminist, and open-minded writers by subscribing for…
From time to time, I invite colleagues to write a guest blog. My friend, colleague, and sometimes co-author Michael Kimmel is a pioneer in exploring men and masculinities in both his scholarly and more popular work. He lives in New York City. You have to pinch yourself sometimes to remind yourself that it’s 2012 and…
Saudi Arabia plans to build four women-only industrial cities. Women in Saudi Arabia, as everywhere else, increasingly demand greater financial independence, political, religious, and social equality, and unimpeded entrance to a full range of jobs. But what’s one to do in a country where the ultra-conservative Wahabi brand of Islam rules the roost? Where women’s…
The London Games are on! And faster than Usain Bolt, out sprint many Olympic myths. The problem with myths is they can be dangerous. Here’s what you need to know. Myth 1: The Modern Olympics are the Continuation of the Ancient Olympics Starting in 1896, those who created the “modern Olympics” traced their origins to…
Locked-in syndrome is a nightmarish condition where you are awake but you have no voluntary control over your muscles. You are totally conscious but also completely paralyzed, unable to move or communicate in any way except, in some cases, by blinking your eyes. Fortunately, locked-in syndrome is extremely rare. My research has uncovered a far-more…
When I speak to MPs in the British Parliament on Monday, I’m going to say that for too long women have stood alone. When it comes to violence against women, we’re still thinking it’s “just” a women’s issue.this. Sexual and physical violence at the hands of a man hits a staggering 45 percent of women…
It’s another day for most women in the world: breakfast is cooked, diapers are changed, fields are tended, computers switched on, patients treated, students taught, and houses cleaned. In the distance, groups of men thump the drums of war. They talk of the cleansing power of explosives stuffed into a car. They anonymously rain missiles…
Like an ever-growing number of men around the world, we think that women should control their own bodies. We hold these truths as deep moral beliefs. All humans should have the right to autonomy and bodily integrity. For women and men, this often means the same thing, but for women it has an additional meaning:…
There are concerted efforts by the extremists who now run the Republican Party to push through draconian laws in the United States that not only make abortions unavailable under any circumstances but put huge barriers to women obtaining safe and effective forms of contraception. In recent days, both the Republican presidential primaries, hearings in the…
“Mistakes were made.” “We apologize to anyone who may have been offended.” You’ve heard it all too often: an apology that doesn’t really, well, apologize. When my mother taught me to apologize to my sisters for one grievous childhood thing or another, it was all very clear: an apology meant four things. You take responsibility,…
On Sunday, an Afghani man, woman, and their son, who since 2007 have been permanent residents of Canada, were convicted of murdering the family’s three daughters and the man’s first wife. The women’s “crime”: the teenaged girls had brought supposed “dishonor” to their family by the way they dressed and the boys they liked. (See…
Reason One: Giving Up is Hard to Do I’m a strong believer that men gain a huge amount from feminism. It’s been a theme of my writing and public speaking for thirty years (including in my new book, co-written with Michael Kimmel, The Guy’s Guide to Feminism.) But, let’s face it, you don’t make omelets…
You could get into a long debate about the many adjectives we’ve used to describe manhood in order to decide which are really the greatest characteristics of masculinity. The truth is far simpler. To answer the question, “what is good about masculinity?”, we need to remind ourselves that: Masculinity doesn’t exist. At least not in…
What do Marilyn Monroe, love, a male high school teacher, and, well, you, have in common? The answer: more than you might imagine. And although that answer will be different if you are a man or a woman, and depending on whether you’re attracted to women or men, it has had a riveting presence in…
Here’s an amazing thing about the White Ribbon Campaign: there is no membership, no structured international network, no official way to join and, in Canada where we started, there is a staff of only 5 hardworking men in donated office space. And yet, by my latest count, the campaign has spread to more than 70…
If it were between countries, we’d call it a war. If it were a disease, we’d call it an epidemic. If it were an oil spill, we’d call it a disaster. But it is happening to women, and it’s just an everyday affair. It is violence against women. It is rape at home and on…
The Occupy movement has been an amazing success. It started a broad public discussion on social inequality. On who controls our economies and governments. On who controls our public spaces. It quickly spread around the world. Right now, though, it risks getting trapped in its single tactic. And, ironically, it risks getting trapped in fetishizing…
You might be surprised, but I’ve been inspired by Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain. Surprised because, after all, his combination of right wing politics, stubborn anti-intellectualism, and an apparently superficial relationship with economic reality might lead you to think he’s not my cup of tea. But, I’ve been inspired by his ability to reduce complex…
From time to time, I invite colleagues to write a guest blog. Jorgen Lorentzen and Oystein Holter are both prominent in Norway as profeminist men working to promote gender equality and end all forms of violence against women. All opinions are those of the authors. In Norway, Gender Equality Does Extend to the Bedroom by…
The genius of the Occupy movement is the proclamation, from the outset, that it represents 99% of the population. That stands as a far cry from the huge youth movement in the late 1960s/early 1970s. We made a fundamental mistake in those days: we were not only content but we were thrilled to be a…
What do the Pope, Republican Rick Perry, and Attila the Hun have in common? It appears they’ve all written rave reviews for my new book The Guy’s Guide to Feminism Co-written with Michael Kimmel, it’ll be in bookstores across Canada and the US by early November. It’s an A-Z book, at times serious but full of…
Those who’d like to redefine manhood and engage men and boys in promoting gender equality have a very basic challenge. Ideas about gender are not simply disembodied thoughts or ideas that float around in our heads. If that were the case, then change would be simple: let guys know how our current gender ideals hurt…
Ten years ago the monsters who’d been nurtured by the United States in its covert war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan struck back with horrific vengeance against the American people. This is not to blame the US for the barbarous attack on the World Trade Center and the cold-blooded murder of so many people…
Jack Layton — political leader, co-founder of the White Ribbon Campaign, and a man with the greatest of hearts — died this morning. He was only 61. For my readers outside of Canada, his name is known to a few of you as the co-founder of the White Ribbon Campaign. For those of us here…
The riots in London were not a political protest. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t have a meaning. They were, of course, a miserable business. They further destroyed downtrodden communities. They traumatized children. In addition to chain stores, looters trashed small businesses sweated over by families, often immigrants. To figure out what these riots were…
A special guest blog by Jorgen Lorentzen in Oslo Dear friends, A terrible action of terror hit Norway on Friday. It is now clear that it was one man’s work: a 32-year-old ethnic Norwegian with right-wing sympathies named Anders Breivik. The theory now is that the blast in downtown Oslo, outside the Prime Minister’s office,…
1. FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP Every four years, my neighbourhood in downtown Toronto goes crazy. With people living around here from all over the world, a United Nation’s worth of flags hang from front porches and apartment balconies or flap from car windows. Streets regularly clog with honking cars of celebrating men and women or…
In countries around the world, we’re witnessing one of the greatest and swiftest changes in human history: in the course of a couple of generations we are redefining what it means to be a father. In a growing number of countries, young fathers not only expect to, but want to, play a central role in…
SlutWalks are spreading around the globe. So too is the controversy around the name and the image it’s creating. I was proud to be invited to address the inaugural SlutWalk in Toronto on April 3. The idea is glorious and simple: grab onto one of the many epitaphs that get thrown at (some) women as…
A friend once told me a story from her years with the United Nations in a rural area in southern Africa. One day a neighbour asked her for old batteries; he said he was going to put them into the liquor he was brewing to (supposedly) help fermentation. She told him about the dangerous chemicals…
Dear Sarah, Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. There was the busy schedule of high school, college and professional football and then basketball games: all those teams praying that I choose them to win takes an enormous amount of research time and personal energy. (A few months ago, a Viking’s…
Amnesty International has released one of its human rights lists. On it are China, Iran, North Korea, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria, Bangladesh, and Somalia. All are known for deep and ongoing abuses of human rights. When it comes to human rights, it’s not a list that any right-thinking person (or country) would want to…
The catastrophe at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan speaks of many things. It speaks of corporate greed – its owner has been convicted of falsifying safety data in a singular pursuit of enriching itself even if its workers and perhaps countless others might die. It speaks of generations of Japanese governments that have pumped…
As I was just in Istanbul for a few days of work – during an unusual March week of wet snow and pummeling winds – I wanted to tell you about the type of thing that should fill us all with a bit of hope. Turkey still faces huge challenges when it comes to gender…
It’s another day for most women in the world: breakfast is cooked, diapers are changed, fields are tended, computers switched on, patients treated, students taught, and houses cleaned. In the distance, groups of men thump the drums of war. They talk of the cleansing power of explosives stuffed into a car. They anonymously rain missiles…
Two, three or even four opposing things can co-exist. It is possible that someone is, at the same time, a) a courageous, even heroic, advocate who says that citizens should know the truth and who is willing to take enormous personal risks to make that happen; b) an individual who may have committed a form…
A million women hit the streets in 230 Italian cities on February 13. 400,000, alone, marched in Rome. Media around the world played it up as a march against the sleezy, likely-Mafia-connected, Prime Minister Berlusconi who seems to have a thing for hair dye, plastic surgery, and buying sex from young women. I wondered if…
For those of us in many countries, February 14 comes sugar-coated with images of flowers and chocolates, romance and love. Okay, it’s true: I’m a sucker for romance. Romantic love can bring great delight. Falling in love, itself, is a moment of such intensity that you simultaneously feel connected with every atom on the planet…
Three young Egyptians have produced a wonderful music video, “The Sound of Freedom” (Sout al Horeya). Here’s the video. But first, a partial translation from Al-Jazeera: I went down and I said I am not going back, and I wrote on every street wall that I am not going back. All barriers have been broken…
It has been captivating to watch the sudden and massive upheavals in Egypt sparked by the uprising in Tunisia and, in turn, speaking protest movements in Yemen, Jordan, Sudan and beyond. I do not wish to speculate on outcomes. Perhaps countries will descend into bloodshed as those who desperately hope to preserve the status quo…
A terrific new documentary by Marc de Guerre starts with the dramatic drop of full-time employment for men in the United States. Between December 2007 and March of 2010 the United States lost 8.2 million jobs. 80% of these jobs belonged to men. In 2008, the share of men in the United States with a…
There are a lot of strange things we now take for granted. On Tuesday night, I watched President Obama’s State of the Union address. From time-to-time he would illustrate a point by telling a short, heart-warming story about someone or other. Each time he did, the camera would dutifully shift to an person in the…
On December 6, 1989, Canada changed forever. Until that day, thousands of women in our country suffered violence with little recourse. A woman beaten was a woman ignored. A woman raped was a woman who asked for it. A woman harassed at work was a woman who couldn’t take a joke. The violence was treated…
Michael’s November 2009 interview n Rome for the United Nation’s agency, the International Fund for Agarian Development (IFAD). 5 minutes
On campuses throughout North America, there are groups of male students who are speaking out against dating violence and in support of gender equality. It’s not always an easy job. For one thing, they up against a ton of fear. Of what? Fear among most guys of not being one of the guys. They also face a…
Once again, at the beginning of a new year, we are treated to variations of the familiar newspaper cartoon: Father Time is rumpled and wrinkled, emaciated and exhausted from his year on planet earth. We know he’s been done in not by a natural process of aging, but by the human processes of our age. …
Canada’s leading paper, The Globe and Mail, has featured my “Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light Program.” This is a new leadership program for managers to help them manage anti-harassment policy with confidence. This full-day, half-day, or two-day program goes beyond traditional training that focuses on straightforward lists of the “red light” behaviours of what…
From Canada to Korea, Brazil to China, Spain to South Africa, Pakistan to the United States, men are finally challenging a grave epidemic and a terrible form of terrorism. It is not a disease, nor what we normally refer to as terrorism. But that doesn’t matter for the thousands of women who are murdered each…
The war and now the occupation of Iraq is indeed about oil and the arms industries; it is about a particularly nasty dictator; it is about who controls the Middle-east, and about the long-held political agenda of a small circle in the United States who happen to control the White House. All true, but it…
In the years since Penguin published my book, “Cracking the Armour,” I’ve been gratified by the positive responses and kind comments I’ve received from so many people. But I’ve wanted to find a way to make it available more broadly around the world. Now, I’m pleased to offer it for you to download, in PDF…
Many countries in the western world seemed to have rediscovered fatherhood. We see fathers in movies and on television, in advertisements and newspaper articles: men are cooing to babies, playing with their kids, spreading advice to the next generation, and getting in touch with their own dads. It might get a bit corny at times,…
I’m pleased to launch the new incarnation of my web site. My hope is to provide a better introduction to the range of services I offer and on-line resources, including articles you can download. The “work” section has pages on the talks and workshops I provide to different organizations, as well as information about my…
In Development 44.3: “Violence against Women and the Culture of Masculinity,” September 2001, pp. 9-14. Abstract: Michael Kaufman discusses the need to both address and involve men in ending violence against women (VAW), a few of the pitfalls and guiding principles, and shares his thoughts on what is the most developed example of this work,…
If it were between countries, we’d call it a war. If it were a disease, we’d call it an epidemic. If it were an oil spill, we’d call it a disaster. But it is happening to women, and it’s just an everyday affair. It is violence against women. It is sexual harassment at work and…
For a moment my eyes turned away from the workshop participants and out through the windows of the small conference room and towards the Himalayas, north of Kathmandu. I was there, leading a workshop, largely the outgrowth of remarkable work of UNICEF and UNIFEM which, a year earlier, had brought together women and men from…
This article first appeared in Finnish in Pelastakaa Lapset in the summer of 1998 Many countries in the western world seemed to have rediscovered fatherhood. We see fathers in movies and on television, in advertisements and newspaper articles: men are cooing to babies, playing with their kids, spreading advice to the next generation, and getting…
Saturday, September 21, 1991 The Toronto Star I was down at the Y the other day with my son, swimming a few lengths and fooling around on the Nautilus. Afterwards in the dressing room I started talking with two guys. Two big guys. I’m no shrimp, but one of them at least matched my 6’2″…
In my darker moments I think it was inevitable. A young man, wired with hate and fear, pulled the trigger on 14 women’s lives. It was inevitable not because men are naturally violent. There was something else at work. There are those who think that men are predisposed to aggression and brutality. That’s the 2001:…