The official United Nations theme for International Women’s
Day 2014 is "Equality for Women is Progress for All." In the run-up
to International Women’s Day Soroptimist International are focussing on how
gender equality benefits everyone; this week we’re looking in particular at men
and boys.

Equality for Women is Progress for Men and Boys because gender
stereotypes restrict opportunities for everyone. Challenging assumptions about
what is “feminine” or “masculine” work or behaviour helps to break down barriers
for men and boys, enabling each individual to pursue their own dreams. Too often we see, in the media, in the workplace and in family life, very defined roles for men and for women which simply work to moderate and restrict behaviour and opportunities for both sexes.

At the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women,
March 10^th – 21^st  2014,
Soroptimist International (SI) will be hosting a side event at the Commission
of the Status of Women in New York entitled ‘Blue is the New Pink: Gender Equality
through Men and Boys’. It will be SI’s first ever all-male panellist event and
it will feature a modern male’s perspective on breaking down gender stereotypes
and working to achieve gender equality for both women and men. The panel will
address the barriers men face entering into traditionally female-dominated
fields, as well as the difficulties men experience in breaking male stereotypes.

What Soroptimist International hopes to see come out of the Commission on the Status of Women this year is a consensus of the points made in our Post 2015 Development Agenda Statement, which states that empowering women and girls without involving men and boys will achieve minimal, short term results and that men and boys must be an integral part of empowerment programmes as we work to address the underlying social and economic determinants of the vulnerabilities of women and girls.

International Women’s Day, and the Commission on the Status of Women, are not only about women and girls, they are about achieving gender equality for everyone, this includes men and boys, children, communities
and society. Read more about International
Women’s Day and read more about Soroptimist International at the CSW 58.

Photo credit: Adam Jones, Ph.D./Wikimedia Commons,  adamjones.freeservers.com