Factors associated with gender equality among church-going young men in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: a cross-sectional study

International Journal for Equity in Health

Research

Kerstin E. Edin¹  Monica Christianson¹  Miguel San Sebastian²  Hendrew Lusey³ 

[1] Department of Nursing, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden;Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden;World Council of Churches, Central Africa Regional Coordinator of the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA), C/o Salvation Army Headquarter, Avenue Colonel Ebeya no 23, B.P. 8636, Kinshasa Gombe, Democratic Republic of Congo;Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden;Department of Nursing, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden;

关键词: Gender equality;    Gender-equitable men scale;    Church-going young men;    Masculinities;    Cross-sectional study;    DR Congo;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12939-017-0707-7

 received in 2017-07-31, accepted in 2017-11-23,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundWhile women and girls are made vulnerable by inequitable and violent versions of masculinities, there is increasing evidence that gender equality will not be achieved without partnering with men. The aim of this study was to assess gender-equitable norms and their determinants among church-going young men in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo.MethodA cross-sectional study was carried out among 289 church-going young men, aged 18–24 years, residing in three disadvantaged communes of Kinshasa. Variables included sociodemographic characteristics, attitudes towards gender equality and responses to issues related to the Gender-Equitable Men (GEM) scale. Logistic regression was applied to identify the associations between sociodemographic characteristics, attitudes and the GEM scale.ResultsThe findings provide evidence of attitudes and beliefs that act as barriers to gender equality. For instance, the majority of church-going young men (83.74%) agreed that a man is the only decision maker in the home and about half (50.87%) of the respondents supported the statement “There are times a woman deserves to be beaten”. Similarly, around half of the participants agreed with the idea of men’s uncontrollable sex drive (50.87%) and men’s toughness (50.17%). Close to half of the participants (44.29%) agreed that it is women’s responsibility to prevent pregnancy. These attitudes co-existed with a few gender-equitable norms as 82.70% agreed on the importance of joint decisions concerning family planning. An association between education, certain places of residence, being single or separated, and supportive attitudes towards gender equality was found with higher scores for the GEM.ConclusionOur study findings indicate that a high proportion of church-going young men do not endorse gender-equitable norms. Therefore, churches urgently need comprehensive gender equality and masculinity policies and programmes to influence young men’s attitudes and behaviours. The promotion of gender equality in schools and the wider community also need to be encouraged.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017