Key Information
Year:
2024Education Establishment:
Queen's University BelfastName of Chair Lead:
Professor Maria LohanThe aim of this first UNESCO Chair on Masculinities and Gender Equality is to foster the best ways to engage men and boys in support of gender equality for women and girls – and to improve men’s and boys’ lives alongside. Comprehensive sexuality education in schools is a great place to start to educate boys and girls in gender equality and to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The work of this Chair
Since 2007 Gender Equality has been designated a Global Priority for UNESCO. To maximise gender equality for women and girls, it is essential to also engage men and boys.
Professor Lohan, the UNESCO Chair on Masculinities in Gender Equality is leading groundbreaking research on this education in the UK, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa with leading universities, UNESCO and WHO. UNESCO will work with Professor Lohan to enhance male engagement in challenging gender and power inequalities as part of UNESCO’s strategy to achieve gender equality globally.
This Chair has been developed in close collaboration with two universities; Universidad de la Republica and Stellenbosch University.
Since beginning the Chair in March 2024, UNESCO Latin America formally launched the Chair with a public lecture at Universidad de la Republica. Maria also contributed to research on comprehensive sexuality education with boys in Latin America - Si jo Fuera Juan, (This is an adaptation of the programme she developed in the UK If I were jack). At Stellenbosch University, Maria also contributed to a further adaptation of comprehensive sexuality education for boys – If I were Thabo.She also began a new study for the WHO with Professor Mark Tomlinson and international partners. This is a Research Priority Setting Exercise on Early Adolescence and Sexual and reproductive Health and Rights.
About the Chair Lead
Professor Lohan works as a consultant to the WHO where she has led systematic reviews of the global evidence on male engagement in SRHR and gender equality. Following compilation of the evidence, she was commissioned by WHO to lead an international team to conduct a global priority setting exercise on ‘Masculinities and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights’. The results were presented to international ministries at the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development in New York 2024.
Professor Lohan also works as a consultant to UNESCO and was commissioned by UNESCO in 2023 to compile an overview of the systematic review evidence on comprehensive sexuality education globally. She is a partner in the UNFPA/UNESCO Global Partnership Forum on Comprehensive Sexuality Education. UNESCO recently published a feature interview with Maria on this work.
