Friend or Foe: the Male Change Agent and Construction of Masculinities in the Fight against Domestic Violence in Kenya

Men as a gendered category have rarely been considered in development programmes or studies. Through the experiences of MEGEN members, this paper brings into visibility men as gendered subjects. The paper begins by deconstructing the usual binary of male perpetrator, female victim by looking at domestic violence from the perspective of plural masculinities. Through discourses, it highlights the construction of gender norms and consequently the construction of gender hierarchies. Through violence as social practice, the paper delves into engagements of MEGEN members either as witnesses, victims or perpetrators of violence. Moreover, it delineates the transitions of these identities from childhood to present day activism against violence. A running theme in the paper is that the dominant violent masculinity is created and reinforced through institutional and discursive practices of the family, marriage and kinship to subordinate alternative masculinities. However, it also argues for possibilities of alternative voices to be heard through interventions that engage the non-violent, peaceful man. The paper concludes with the assertion that the ‘male change agent’ is a friend and not a foe and efforts to curb domestic violence should indeed involve him. Relevance to Development Studies Gender and development studies have since inception been seen by some as ‘women’s studies’ in design. This means a ‘for women, by women’ approach was taken to issues that should otherwise be tackled from a relational point of view. By introducing men and masculinities, this paper challenges the womenonly approach and explores the construction of masculinities in the fight against domestic violence. Thus, my contribution to development literature is in bringing together studies of changing and multiple masculinities with studies of domestic violence.