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Gender in Peace Education: the complex roles of
masculinity
What does gender have to do with peace?
· Men and women with regard to
violence across cultures
· Men and women with regard to peace
across cultures
· The complexity of gender
· The difference in approach between
peace keeping initiatives and peace education initiatives
Looking at the literature across cultures:
· Connecting masculinity and
violence
· Connecting masculinity and peace
Participant activity:
Self-reflection writing: personal response to findings from
the literature. Share with a partner. Return to group to
discuss the experience.
Research theme Defining Structure of the World Parliament
(WCPA Model):
A small cross-cultural study of men engaged in peace
“If it were possible to identity common characteristics in
peaceful men, how can their life stories inform the
education of boys for peace?”
· Description of the study, context
and methodology
Participant activity:
Characteristics of peaceful men I have known – one word
sticky note exercise.
Relationship wheel drama activity – using themes from the
interviews (below), rapid simultaneous role plays with
participants playing gendered and age differentiated
scenarios from their own cultural backgrounds. Discuss.
Research theme Meaningful Education:
· Themes from the interviews:
- families of origin
- education background
- travel
- religion
- experience with suffering and
hardship
- influence of significant women and
men in participant’s lives
· Research findings
1) Most common characteristics of participants:
- sensitivity to the suffering of
others
- concern with inequity and
injustice
- distinct and articulated code of
ethics
- values of education, travel and
inter-cultural exchange, willingness to seek new experiences
and take risks
- capacity to engage in
sophisticated social analysis
- service to humanity and to the
common weal
- balanced decision making involving
both head and heart
- commitment to envision a brighter
future/a better world and then to work towards it
- autonomous moral thought, action
and self-correction
- continuous learning and
professional development
- hard working
2) Common influences in attitude and behavior
development of men in study towards peace:
- empathy and how it developed
- one or more persistent male roles
model admired by participants
- nuturing and caring relationships
with one or more significant men in late teens, early
adulthood
- learning peaceful problem solving
skills from competent women
- religious influence or humanistic
influence on attitudes of moral leadership
Participant activity:
What do these findings indicate for how we should work with
boys and male youth in our lives? Creative visualization of
significant boys, youth and men in participant lives. Follow
with discussion on how participants can effect change for
peace using the information from this workshop. |
