Every man must take responsibility for calling out incidents of misogyny, abuse and gender violence, US activist and author Dr Jackson Katz told an Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) conference.
Progress on such issues was being rolled back at institutional level in the United States, and by online influencers, but there was pushback, he said.
“[Men] need to be leaders,” Mr Katz told Ictu’s biennial delegate conference in Belfast on Wednesday.
“Violence against women and other abuse is an issue for every man. And if you don’t speak up when you see your friend, your team-mate, your classmate, your fellow union member, your fellow executive in the C suite talking about women in a way that’s derogatory, or treating women in a way that’s not respectful ... then, in a sense, isn’t your silence a form of consent and complicity in his behaviour?”
RM Block
Mr Katz – whose latest book on the issue is called Every Man – has worked with a range of organisations including the US military. However, he said improvements in culture over time were now being attacked as “wokeism”.
“But I think progressive organisations like unions and conservative institutions like the military are more similar than different in terms of peer culture,” he told delegates. “There’s all kinds of reasons why men don’t speak up, but when they see other men do it and model it, it makes it a little bit easier. And I think men in the union movement have the potential to have an incredible impact.”
Wednesday’s conference backed a number of motions on equality, as well as against domestic and other violence against women and girls.
In his address Ictu general secretary, Owen Reidy, suggested the issues were of an ever-increasing urgency.
“We have seen the growth in right-wing populism the world over,” he said. “The far right is also in the ascendancy in many parts of Europe and is, incredibly in some cases, becoming the norm, mainstreamed. Public discourse has got nastier and an aggressive misogyny has become more mainstreamed.”
He noted that Ireland had encountered a growth in domestic violence, including sexual violence and rape against women. Both he and Mr Katz suggested the trends were closely linked.
Earlier, the conference heard from Sally Rees of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers about the conflicting reactions of men after a past pupil was found to have “upskirted” her – taking videos over a 14-month period.
“One in three women will be sexually assaulted or harassed in their lifetime,” she said. “You have not just the power and the means, but also a responsibility to your female colleagues and the women in your lives to change society and ensure that women and girls not only feel safe but are safe everywhere.”
