Men and women in partnership: Mobilizing faith communities to address gender-based violence

Abstract

There is much debate around whether gender-based violence (GBV) interventions should be framed within ‘women’ or ‘men’movements.While recognizing the gainsmade through both strategies, by drawing on data collected during a recent scoping study on the role of faith communities and organizations in the prevention and response to sexual and genderbased violence, we argue that there is a need, particularly within faith communities in the Global South, to explore the notion of an integrated approach. The dominance of restrictive patriarchal structures means that men, and especially male faith leaders, need to be systematically targeted and incorporated into faith-based intervention strategies, as partners in addressing the issue.

Keywords

• gender-based violence
• faith
• faith communities
• patriarchy
• global south