Photo: © IAMANEH Schweiz
Gender refers to society’s widely shared norms and expectations about the roles, characteristics and accepted behaviour for men and women. In most contexts, norms support men’s superiority over women. Heterosexuality is the norm, women’s sexuality is often ignored, and sexual diversity is in many cases not respected. Rigid gender norms can encourage men to engage in high-risk behaviours affecting their own health and the health of their partners. Unsafe sex is a major contributor to global morbidity and mortality through the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and through unplanned and unwanted pregnancies. Gender norms in many contexts also legitimize the acceptance and use of violence against women and girls, and violence against other (gay) men.
Evidence shows that gender equality cannot be reached solely by gender-sensitive approaches and awareness raising. Root causes need to be addressed and that is where gender-transformative processes begin in order to redefine gender roles and values.
Gender transformative work seeks to transform gender relations to promote equality through critical reflections and questioning of individual practices, institutional dynamics and broader social norms that create and reinforce gender inequalities and vulnerabilities for men and women.
Date: Wednesday 22 May 2019
Venue: Swiss Red Cross, Rainmattstrasse 10, Bern
Participants: MMS Network members, especially organised for the SRHR group members; external participants are welcome (fee 50CHF).
Course Instructor: IAMANEH Schweiz, Olen Dashi (CLMB, Albania), Tonilda Cela (Women to Women, Albania)
Moderator: Carine Weiss, MMS
Please send your registration to: cweiss@medicusmundi.ch
The workshop is organised in joint collaboration with IAMANEH Schweiz. 
The workshop is intended for MMS member organisations but can also be attended from interested people outside the MMS Network (will include a fee).
