With the support of Women and Gender Equality Canada, Shift undertook a comprehensive review of the academic and grey literature available on engaging and mobilizing men in gender equality and violence prevention. 

Our goal was to shed light on what current research is telling us about the most promising approaches for engaging men and to share those learnings across Canada.

We began by talking to diverse male-identified practitioners and subject matter experts from across the country. Of the many promising approaches that were identified, nine were selected for in-depth research.

They are:                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

1. Calling in approach
2. Nudge approach
3. Social norms approach
4. Bystander approach
5. Virtual reality approach
6. Gamification approach
7. Data science approach
8. Community justice approach
9. Fatherhood approach

We then conducted ‘rapid evidence reviews’ on the 9 selected approaches. A rapid evidence review is a type of knowledge synthesis that includes identifying specific research questions, reviewing the best available evidence to answer those questions, and identifying the key strengths, challenges, and gaps the evidence is pointing to.

The following publications of our findings are available on our website:

The Calling in Men Project FAQs on the 9 Promising Approaches for Practitioners Engaging Men in Violence Prevention and Gender Equality 

High-Level Summary of Nine Rapid Evidence Reviews: Innovative Approaches to Mobilize More Men to Prevent Violence and Advance Equity 

Calling in All Men: 26 Recommendations for Engaging and Mobilizing Men to Prevent Violence and Advance Equity 

These FAQs were created to make the research more accessible and support practitioners to integrate these approaches into their work. Our hope is that the approaches can be adapted by a wide range of people working with men across social justice movements. Whatever your entry point, we believe there are many valuable insights to draw on as we work to build a more just, violence-free, and equitable future.

For more than three decades, governments and the anti-violence sector have recognized that men play a critical role in stopping violence before it starts, yet we’ve struggled to prioritize this work and understand how to do it effectively.

In Canada, we know that

• 90% of violent crimes are committed by men,
• 98% of sexual assaults are committed by men, and
• 83% of violence against women is committed by men.

[Sources: Rotenberg, C. 2017; Sinha, M. 2013; Vaillancourt, R. 2010]

But it’s not just women who experience violence resulting from patriarchal systems, colonialism, toxic masculinities, and unhealthy gender norms. Men suffer as well.

Research shows that, compared to women, men have

• higher rates of suicide,
• higher rates of injury and early death,
• higher rates of alcohol and substance abuse, and
• higher rates of mortality and morbidity.

[Sources: Bellette, J.M., & Janz, T., 2015; Navaneelan, T., 2017; Public Health Canada, 2016; Statistics Canada, 2017, 2020]

And the situation is even worse for racialized and Indigenous men who are over-represented in many of these categories.

While men are the primary perpetrators of violence against women and girls, men are also the primary perpetrators of violence against men and boys, which makes them frequent victims of violence, abuse, and trauma.

The way that we socialize men not only harms women – it also harms men. 

That’s why engaging men as co-beneficiaries and agents of change for equality, justice, and inclusion is essential in the prevention of violence.

Our aim is never to make excuses for men or diminish the necessity of holding men accountable. Rather, we are seeking to improve our approach to accountability so that we can mobilize men to ultimately prevent violence from happening in the first place.

By engaging men with strategies that “meet them where they’re at” and providing opportunities for transformational learning, healing, accountability, and repair, we can create effective conditions that change hearts, minds, and (most importantly) behaviours. We can build momentum for bigger and more impactful social and gender justice movements.