Working with Boys and Men on Gender Equality
Northeastern states
Interested Individuals and organizations, Boys, Media and Academics.
FEM is a network of individuals and organizations who came together in 2007, with the primary objective of working with men and boys to usher in a just and peaceful society. Alongside our shared efforts toward gender equity, many of us are active in fields as diverse as community development, public health, education, and the arts. Professionally as well as personally, we have come to realize that it is critical to intervene in the area of masculinities for bringing about meaningful and durable changes in discriminatory practices in our respective fields of endeavor.
FEM’s activities are mostly implemented by partners at the local level and include community campaigns and advocacy on women’s rights and child rights. FEM also provides capacity-building support to its members including opportunities for developing perspectives and joint plans of action through discussion and dialogues.
At the national level, FEM runs an online communication platform that includes a listserv and a website with regional pages to enable sharing in regional languages by partners and grassroots activists.
FEM members of different states coordinate and participate in collective campaigns on gender issues like “16 days activism against gender-based violence” and One Billion Rising (OBR) campaign – a global campaign calling for an end to violence against women, and for gender justice. FEM members have been taking an active part in rallies, outreach and other public events establishing the need for greater participation of men for eradication of discrimination.
The 1st NE Symposium on Men and Boys on Gender Justice was held from 5th to 6th November 2014 at Lumding Assam. The symposium was attended by the participants of the Seven states locally called seven sisters. Since the concept of Men engaging is quite new among the NE it was difficult to identify the appropriate participants who could well contribute to the symposium.
However, the networks of Human Rights activists and women rights activists played a meaningful role in identifying the participants from various sections viz.; Youth leaders, Lawyers, Trade Union leaders, Journalists, Child rights activists Minority community leaders, Representatives of diverse ethnic groups like Meite, Naga, Zeme Naga, Khasia, Garo, Nishi, Bodo, Mizo, Dimasha, and Karbi. Besides a large number of Bengali, Hindi, and Assamese-speaking youth also took part in those two days of deliberation.
The second Northeast Conclave of FEM was held at Lumding Assam, from 8th to 9th July 2016 attended by Academics, Lawyers, Media Persons, trade unionists,s and activists working on violence and human rights in Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, and Tripura.
Centre For Health and Social Justice, New Delhi
