Changing men’s attitudes

I heard someone in government say on radio that young boys don’t know how to regard women and grow up abusing women, whom they see as their inferiors.

This was a rare comment acknowledging that many boys are brought up with poor attitudes to the women in their lives. Recognising one of the elephants in the room allows us to try to really tackle the scourge.

Kenya has employed a programme from an American NGO in the slums of Nairobi to prevent sexual assault on girls and women. The aim is to change attitudes of adolescent boys about whether it is acceptable to assault or rape their female peers. There is no doubt in my mind, from experience in disciplining high school children, that the time to deal with male attitudes is in the early years of high school.

The programme was implemented at 29 high schools. The majority of male pupils between 15 and 22 received six two-hour educational sessions. Topics included myths about women, negative gender stereotypes and what constitutes consent to sex.

The remaining boys received a two-hour life skills class as part of Kenya’s school curriculum. Afterwards, the experimental group had more positive views of women and less belief in rape myths. The improvement persisted nine months later. The comparison group’s attitudes did not improve or had worsened. Unsurprisingly and importantly, it was easier to change negative gender stereotypes in younger males.

We have to try something. The older we get, the less likely we are to change attitudes.

SC Weiss Parktown North