The majority of the current research on the relationship between gender equality and governance, conflict and violence is focusing on the empowerment of women. The same goes on the practitioner´s side where very few programs and initiatives aiming at improving gender equality take men´s role in this into consideration.
Equating gender with women in both research and practice is problematic for two reasons. First, by entitling and promoting women to what men traditionally have access to, and rarely the opposite, the traditionally masculine is still valued more than the traditionally feminine. The inequality structures thus remain in place. Secondly, research on masculinities does find strong correlations between patriarchal norms on masculinity and several forms of inequality. For instance, patriarchal norms on masculinity have been found to correlate with poor governance and positive attitudes to several types of violence, including armed conflict. The literature presumes patriarchal norms to underlie both hierarchical and abusive forms of governance as well as different forms of violence.
This paper wants to unpack the linkages between men and masculinities on the one hand and poor governance, conflict and violence, on the other. It will do so by going through the existing research in the fields of political science, sociology and social psychology. This literature review will take stock of and discuss the proposed links between men and masculinities and governance, conflict and violence, starting with a discussion of the concept of masculinities and their relation to violence. It will then browse the literature on the issue of governance, focusing on its relation to conflict and violence, trying to unpack how men and masculinities are related to these issues.
