Be a sport: games coaches teach boys how to be better men
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The following is an extract from a story published in The Guardian, written by Tricia Taormina, about using sport to improve gender equality and to prevent violence against women and girls, such as for the UN Women support Get Into Rugby PLUS new initiative in Fiji.
Cricket and rugby are being used as a way of helping boys develop healthy notions of masculinity.
On a small cricket field in a dusty village in India’s east, groups of boys run between wickets, shouting at each other in the searing heat. When practice is over they put down their bats and fall silent as they listen to a very different form of instruction.
“I saw a guy harassing a girl on the street yesterday,” one player says solemnly. “Have you seen this too? What did you do to stop it?”
The boys share their experiences. When Manish Sharma, 20, told his teammates about the countless times he had witnessed domestic violence, he realised he was not alone. He says discussing the issue with his fellow players emboldened him to tell a relative to stop abusing his wife. “They gave me strength to intervene,” he says.
From cricket in India to rugby in Fiji and Georgia, sport is being used as an entry point to teaching young men about gender equality and developing healthy notions of masculinity.
To read the full story: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/08/be-a-sport-games-coaches-teach-boys-how-to-be-better-men