The GREAT Inititiative - Gender Right & Equality Trust

Advocacy

Advocacy and education are central to improving gender equality worldwide. Internationally GREAT supports women-led media projects including the Liberia Women Democracy Radio Station and Videre, who train women to use film and editing equipment to document human rights abuses and change attitudes in their community.

In the UK we are currently developing the pilot for a national campaign to engage and involve men and boys in gender equality called Great Men Value Women.

We believe that for equality to be achieved, we all have to be involved in the process of change, women and men together. Throughout our lives boys and girls, women and men experience gender inequality in different ways. Men are expected to play certain roles in the family, in social groups and in the workplace. Particularly during adolescence boys are expected to behave in stereotypical ‘masculine’ ways – to be strong, tough, even aggressive and not show their feelings. Some attempts to ‘prove’ manhood can have damaging effects on them, on their health and on the women they have relationships with. Great Men Value Women is about giving young men the tools to challenge stereotypes that they feel pressurised to conform to, to be informed about relationships and to make their own personal choices about what masculinity means to them.

You can follow updates on the campaign via Twitter @ValueWomen and on facebook here. If you would like to contribute to the campaign as a volunteer, by offering your services or offering a space in kind to the project please do get in touch with us via [email protected] – we would love to hear from you.