The statistics on gender-based violence in South Africa are terrifying: the highest rate of rape worldwide, seven women murdered daily, and a femicide rate five times higher than the global average.
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But change will not come from billboards and adverts, but from a coordinated national preventative intervention that starts with boys and addresses the problem at its root.
As a social reformer, writer and statesman Frederick Douglass said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men”.
Now, a new programme aims to tackle one of the causes of gender-based violence, by working with high school boys across the country to help them break free from the rigid stereotypes of masculinity and raise a nation of good men.
“The conventional set of rules for being a man is outdated and unhealthy. It traps men in an emotional straitjacket. It steers them towards isolation, selfishness, sexism and sometimes violence. It deadens their souls,” said the managing director of Primestars, Martin Sweet.
Primestars, a creator of youth development programmes, plans to launch a national movement to raise a nation of good men..
“When they act in horrifying ways, when they hurt, beat or assault others in a way that goes against the human spirit, what do we say? ‘Boys will be boys.’ We are puzzled when boys act terribly, failing to realise that this is the bar we set for them.”
The programme is targeted at Grade Eight to12 boys from more than 200 schools this year.
The programme will include an educational film and toolkit, as well as various ongoing activities, including self-awareness, accountability, responsibility, empathy and compassion.
“It is time to reinvent masculinity and our initiative called, What about the Boys? proposes a liberating paradigm shift teaching boys how to inhabit masculinity responsibly.
“It is designed to encourage them to share emotions in healthy ways, accept and connect with others, speak out against bullying and inequality, and break free from rigid stereotypes,” said Sweet.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the former deputy president of South Africa and executive director of UN Women, has thrown her weight behind the project.
“We need to end gender-based violence in South Africa and the world and to do that we need boys. They don’t have to be the strongest in the room and we need everyone on this journey. We need parents, teachers and young people to educate and be role models to these boys,” she said.
She called on corporates, government and society to join this movement to make sure we create the best possible future for our boys and girls.
The programme follows an evidence-based approach to influencing positive behavioural and societal changes in the long term. To facilitate this, participants will be required to take a pledge to create a measurable standard of behaviour that they commit to following.
A mentoring process and a digital platform will ensure that the programme’s teachings are not time-bound, but instead create long-lasting, changing patterns of behaviour.
Participating companies will provide male mentors to partner with schoolboys to facilitate continued dialogue and guidance. Over time it is envisaged that learners will become future mentors.
