The WiseGuyz program and gender transformative change: Playing the long game
Date
2020-01-24
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This research addresses the gap in the literature on engaging boys in gender transformative programming by examining the long-term benefits of having participated in WiseGuyz, a male-only local sexual health and healthy relationship program using a mixed methods approach. The Male Role Norms Inventory-Adolescent Revised (MRNI-A-r), focus groups and semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from a sample of boys who were five months to three years out of the program, along with a comparison group of boys who did not participate in the program. Participant observation and focus groups with program facilitators were also used in order to understand the program mechanisms that contribute to young men’s experiences in the program. The study is grounded on several critical concepts from sociology of gender, particularly doing and undoing gender and the concept of masculine performance to make sense of, and ground my findings. The theory of gender relations, focused primarily on the social organization of masculinity, was also used to frame findings relative to structured power relations and dominant ideologies. These concepts provide a foundation for understanding the differences between the two groups of young men. My data show that there are significant and distinct differences between the two groups of young men in relation to their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours about masculinity, gender, and relationships. Through participant observation and focus group/interview data, the program mechanisms that support change are highlighted and revealed. The thesis ends with an examination of the implications of using sociology of gender concepts and theories in gender transformative program design and closes with a call to action for funders and policy-makers to re-think the ways in which program research and evaluation of gender transformative change is conducted.
Description
Keywords
masculinity, adolescence, sexual health education, gender transformative program
Citation
Claussen, C. (2020). The WiseGuyz program and gender transformative change: Playing the long game (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.