Behind the Men: The Consequences of Governance Informed by Patriarchal and Hegemonic Norms on Masculinity

The majority of the current research on the relationship between gender equality and democracy/governance is focusing on the empowerment of women. The same goes on the practitioner´s side where very few programs and initiatives aiming at improving gender equality take men´s role in this into consideration. Equating gender with women in both research and practice is problematic for two reasons. First, by entitling and promoting women to what men traditionally have access to but never the opposite, the traditionally masculine is valued more than the traditionally feminine. The inequality structures thus remain in place. Secondly, research on masculinities does find strong correlations between patriarchal norms on masculinity and several forms of inequality, violence and other phenomenon that can fit into the category “poor” governance. The literature presumes patriarchal and hegemonic norms to underlie hierarchical and abusive forms of governance. This paper wants to unpack the linkages between men and masculinities and the consequences of male over-representation in governance institutions in order to see what lessons we can draw from this for (improving) gender equality. It will do so by going through the existing research in the fields of political science, sociology and social psychology. This literature review will take stock of and discuss the proposed links between men and masculinities and (poor) governance, conflict and violence. The paper will start with a discussion of the concepts of patriarchal and hegemonic norms on masculinities. It will then browse the literature of different fields on the issue of governance, trying to unpack how men and different norms on masculinities are related to these issues. The paper will then discuss what these findings mean for the issue of gender equality and how gender equality should be conceived in order to go beyond the traditional focus on women.