Refugee Men as Problematic Perpetrators or Potential Allies? Emerging Discourses on Men and Masculinity in Humanitarian Gender Equality Policy and Practice

In recent years, the importance of working with men and boys in order to successfully promote gender equality has been increasingly emphasized in international policymaking and governance. While this could be seen as a welcome shift away from treating “gender” as synonymous with “women”, feminists have also been expressed concern that a focus on men may draw attention and resources away from the yet unfinished struggle for women’s rights, and obscure the power dynamics of gendered subordination and privilege. This paper examines the emerging discourse on men and gender equality in the global governance of refugees. In this field, refugee women have received policy attention since the early 1990s, and an expanding range of programmatic responses have been developed to protect the rights of refugee women and promote gender equality in humanitarian aid operations. Only recently has the need to focus on the gendered experiences of refugee men, and the need to include men in the fight for gender equality, been highlighted in humanitarian policy and practice. Through an analysis of key UN policy texts as well as interviews with humanitarian workers, this paper traces the ideas and assumptions about masculinity, gender, and social change that underlie this emerging discourse: why is it important to focus on men, and what does this mean in practice in sites such as refugee camps? In conclusion, the paper discusses how a shift towards a focus on men might affect the outcomes of humanitarian gender equality policy and practice in refugee situations.