Izmir Metropolitan Municipality focuses on men’s engagement in gender equality, together with UN Women

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and UN Women took a new step in their partnership aiming for gender equality with the engagement of the male executives of the municipality.

UN Women and Izmir Metropolitan Municipality are working together to address the engagement of men and boys in gender equality with a sustainable approach. The first step of the partnership was taken with the workshop on the “Engagement of Men and Boys in Gender Equality” organized for male executives of the municipality. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç Soyer and other executives of the municipality attended the workshop held at Anahtar Women's Studies Holistic Service Center on February 8.

The workshop, organized as part of the United Nations Joint Programme on Prevention of Child, Early and Forced Marriage in Turkey, started with the opening speech and program introduction of Zeliha Ünaldı, UN Women Programmes Manager. In her speech, Ünaldı said: “We must fight together against gender based norms and stereotypes. Behavioral change related to child, early and forced marriages, which are a type of violence against women, is possible with the change and transformation of the perception on gender. As UN Women, we value men and boys’ engagement in gender equality for this change and transformation.”

The workshop continued with the opening speech of Mr. Tunç Soyer, the Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality: “Concepts attributed to masculinity such as bravery, honesty, strength, and being the head of the family are not things we are born with. They are adjectives that correspond to interiorized gender roles that social life and social conditions impose on us. Throughout human history, this has not been lived as a destiny. Humanity has seen matriarchal societies as well as patriarchal societies. What we need now is to establish a gender perspective in combating violence against women. It is necessary to think about how we can establish this equality based on human rights. We can change our language. Standing like a man, crying like a girl… It is necessary to get rid of these as a starter. We must also change our perspective and implement sincerely egalitarian practices. We believe that Izmir Metropolitan Municipality should lead this great change.”

Throughout the workshop, the importance of men and boys’ engagement in gender equality and how traditional masculinity perceptions and behaviors create inequality were discussed.

In the second part of the program moderated by UN Women Consultant Murat Göç Bilgin, a discussion was held on what can be done to encourage the men and boys of the municipality to adopt gender sensitive roles.

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Social Projects Department Head Anıl Kaçar said, “We develop and implement projects in the city to ensure gender equality with a gender equality perspective. We want to expand this process, which started with our senior executives, in the form of workshops with the city's decision-making body, council members and our colleagues in our municipality, in cooperation with the UN Women.”.

The workshop will be the first step of a cooperation between UN Women and Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, where men and boys’ engagement in gender equality is addressed as a priority issue within the municipality.