Reshaping Boys’ Thinking About Gender Equity: A GSGC Success

Imagine that you are from a community named Monde just outside Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Population: 3,150. Social system: patriarchal, men holding primary power and predominating in political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property. Number of families: 450. Average family size: 7. Family structures: nuclear, multigenerational, single parent.

Employment: tourism, teaching, nursing, commerce. Schooling: primarily gender-segregated, although some coeducational schools exist; based on cultural beliefs, educating girls is not often seen as a priority. Curricula: leading to British O-level and A-level exams. Pedagogy: rote learning. Community recreational facilities: none.

Armed with this information, reflect on your senior boys’ lifelong socialization and its impact on their attitudes toward gender equity. As a stand-in Mentor, you are to follow GSGC guidelines regarding your club’s overall goals, planning and reporting. You meet the boys once a week. Once a quarter, you file a detailed report on lessons, activities, significant meetings and goals achieved. You also are asked to offer an inspirational example of how your work impacted a participant.

At this point, you are invited to compare your planning with that of Mentor Nyika Muyambo, founder of GSGC’s first boys club, Sisonke. Nyika was not always a believer in gender equity. “I was ingrained in a culture where I was led to believe that women are of less importance,” he wrote in a July 2020 blog post. To learn more about Nyika’s conversion, visit From Traditional Thinker to Girl Empowerment Proponent.

The following is taken from a Sisonke report whose program for the quarter became known as “Sisonke Camping.” The underlying theme of lessons, discussions and activities was “the metamorphosis of manhood.” Topics included the stages of male puberty and differing responses to it; alcohol and drug abuse; HIV/AIDS and STDs; the strength necessary to handle feelings and emotions during puberty; differing effects of puberty on females and males; career guidance; setting a vision for the future and decision-making based on the vision; and finally, girl/women empowerment as a tool to further community development.

The Sisonke boys learned that in both insects and humans, metamorphosis can be complete or incomplete. Just as a butterfly must evolve from egg to adult, so, too, a human male must successfully complete each stage of maturation to manhood. In insects, incomplete metamorphosis results in a stunted specimen. In humans, Nyika explained, incomplete metamorphosis can lead to immature attitudes and behaviors, such as abusing females, denying responsibility for unwanted pregnancies, or refusing to honor family obligations.

The camping trip’s most significant meetings centered on girl empowerment to further community development. At first, the boys were resistant to arguments supporting this. But as Mentor Nyika and his colleague Prosper Siphambili revealed the facts, the boys came to understand that persistent poverty in many African communities is, in part, the result of excluding women from a community’s economy. Discussions exposed the boys to both inspirational words and hard facts. Here are a few they heard:

“An educated girl will invest 90 percent of her future income in her family, compared to 35 percent for a boy.”

— The Girl Effect

“When you educate a boy, you educate one person. When you educate a girl, you educate a nation.”

— An old African proverb

“Educating girls results in delaying the age of first marriage, smaller families, decreased chances of contracting HIV/AIDs, and most important, increasing family income and overall economic growth.”

—What Works in Girls’ Education

The Mentors focused on a 15-year-old boy as an example of the impact of their work. All Mentors make a point of connecting with the parents or guardians of their youth each quarter. When visiting this boy’s family, the Mentors found him helping his nieces with the cooking, a rarity in a family with girls older than 10. The family consists of his mother, who is single, several siblings and 11 grandchildren. “He has changed since he came from the camp meeting,” the mother said.

Nyika noted that one message that had clearly resonated with the boy was that gender roles are not rigid and therefore can be assumed by anyone. Adopting that attitude also means that an individual can determine what his family responsibilities are and how he will honor them.

And finally, as part of the Sisonke Camping experience, participants were treated to a tour of Shearwater Helicopter, a local company. During the tour, to emphasize the importance of exposing his youth to different female role models, Nyika introduced them to a woman employed as a pilot. Tongue in cheek, Nyika explained his rationale, “Better seen than said.”

In reporting on the recent successes, Nyika pointed to extensive community buy-in.

“The community is shaped by how boys are initiated into manhood,” he wrote. “It is critical that youth understand the potential girls and women offer–socially, economically, health-wise and environmentally.”

And now your role play has come to an end. Hopefully, the experience of walking in the shoes of Mentors Nyika and Prosper has deepened your understanding of “Why Boys?” in GSGC programs.