The politics data: masculinities and sexual and reproductive health and rights

Why do we continue to have such limited evidence on men and masculinities in sexual and reproductive health and rights?

Thirty years ago, the landmark ICPD Programme of Action talked about the need for engaging men and boys in SRHR. The SDGs talk about universal SRHR as a key goal, but the indicators and measures are all primarily focused on women and pregnancy-related health.

Rendering men and masculinities invisible does not mean that gendered power inequalities, inequities, and injustices disappear.

To understand the dearth of data on men and its implications, I will lead a multi-methods project that includes global research and a country-case study in Ghana. This includes in-depth interviews, document analysis of survey meta-data, and secondary quantitative analysis of key data with men on SRHR.

This project aims to:

  1. Uncover, understand, and interrogate the data commodity chain used to produce sexual and reproductive health evidence;

  2. Examine how men and sexual and reproductive health are framed and conceptualised across the data commodity chain;

  3. Analyse how data are used by different stakeholders and;

  4. Critically understand how evidence shapes SRH governance.