Problem addressed

One in three women have experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15, according to the most recent Fundamental Rights Agency report on violence against women in Europe. Gender-based violence harms women, families, communities and societies. It is a human rights violation, and one of the most pervasive forms of gender-based inequality. In Spain, there has been an increasing focus on gender issues, with six national plans for equality being implemented over the past 20 years, including the 2004 Comprehensive Law Against Gender Violence and the 2007 Equality Law. While Spain has made notable improvements in this field, there is much that remains to be done, particularly regarding the need for men to be aware of the important role they play in fighting against gender inequality in society.

Innovative solution

The NEO project, founded in 2018 by the Cepaim Foundation, aims to understand men’s life experiences in order to shape them into allies in the fight for gender equality. Whereas previous approaches to improving gender equality have focused on legal equality between men and women, the NEO project’s  innovative approach is in trying to tackle the issues of gender inequality by focusing on masculinity, and the role it plays in gender equality.

Through participatory workshops and awareness events, the NEO project builds on the Cepaim Foundation’s previous work in developing innovative group methodologies to work with men by expanding the project to other workplaces in public and private institutions, and analysing current gender roles in the workplace, existing barriers to change, how work is organised among workers and differences in opportunity between men and women. The project also develops awareness-raising campaigns aimed at male workers, experiments with new work methodologies and training sessions, and develops indicators that measure the changes that these new methodologies make in male workers’ attitudes towards gender equality/inequality.

The men involved in NEO’s activities come from families and social circles involved in other Cepaim Foundation projects in the cities of Madrid, Murcia, Seville and Mérida, and other men or women who are interested in the topic of gender equality. The NEO project also runs ‘Campaign 365’, a programme to shape the ‘egalitarian man’ who strives to ‘take care, renounce and take action for gender equality 365 days a year’. Partnering with Promundo Global, NEO is engaging with the male population on issues of gender inequality on a wider scale.

The project is characterised by a rigorous and thorough system of evaluation and impact assessment covering all aspects, an element that the Cepaim Foundation believes was missing from other similar projects in the past. 

Key results and benefits

By addressing gender inequality from the perspective of men, and involving them is discussions on how to address it, the NEO project has targeted people that are not usually included in initiatives on the topic. NEO has moved gender issues away from being a ‘women only’ concern, by increasing ownership and awareness of the impact of gender equality solutions among men as well. Through NEO and Campaign 365, the Cepaim Foundation has held various awareness-raising events and focused on the key role that men can play in gender equality issues. It has also hosted ‘Men, Employment and Care’ conferences in Seville and Madrid. Most prominently, on 24 November 2018, a day prior to the ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women’, a classical music concert was hosted in Madrid, attended by 1 200 people, with the proceeds going towards the financing of socio-economic projects for victims of sexism-induced violence and exclusion. Two main outputs of the NEO project are guidance for companies and guidance for public bodies and institutions that want to incorporate men into their equality strategy.

A key piece of research developed by the Cepaim Foundation over the past year has been an 80-question survey, seeking the opinions of male and female professionals in caregiver, breadwinner and occupational roles. The survey was distributed to 901 people, 661 of whom were male, and demonstrated that unlike men, women’s careers are negatively affected by the persistence of gendered stereotypes over caregiving roles. The Cepaim Foundation also conducted 11 discussion groups (six male, two female and three mixed), and 12 individual interviews as part of this research. The NEO project aims to use the research findings to produce recommendations for public and private entities to include men as co-responsible agents of transformation within their households and workplaces.

Potential for mainstreaming

The NEO project has received EUR 300 000 from the European Social Fund over two years, as well as direct taxpayer donations from the Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare. Since its creation, growth and scalability have been at NEO’s core, not only in terms of addressing gender inequalities in the workplace, but also within the general population. Future avenues for expansion include obtaining additional funding to conduct further research on social issues surrounding masculinity and to explore the impact of care, mental health and responsibility on female employment experiences.

Through NEO and Campaign 365, the Cepaim Foundation aims to develop partnerships with universities to develop specialised training on masculinity. This will support its potential for transfer to another context, particularly as no such training exists in Spain at present, and there is potential to mainstream this by offering it to companies, public bodies or NGOs. Additional funding is needed to restart Campaign 365 and increase the long-term sustainability of the project in terms of changing societal beliefs and attitudes towards gender equality and inclusion.