Acknowledging that Men are Moral and Harmed by Gender Stereotypes Increases Men’s Willingness to Engage in Collective Action on Behalf of Women

Abstract

The rise of far-right parties with antifeminist sentiments constitutes a new challenge in the path to gender equality. Here, we aim to identify strategies to promote men’s acceptance of social change towards equality. Thus, we first examined key concerns about gender equality held by far-right supporters through a discourse analysis of 120 men. The findings revealed a focus on male victimhood, the negation and only partial recognition of inequality, and the delegitimization of feminism. Given the centrality of victimhood in the discourse of far-right male supporters and its social relevance, we developed several non-confrontational strategies based on men’s suffering and supposed (im)morality, and then compared the effectiveness of these strategies for getting men to commit more to gender equality. Two experimental studies (n = 417 and 428 men) revealed that recognizing that men are generally moral or that they also suffer because of gender stereotypes led participants to increase their willingness to participate in collective action for women’s rights. In contrast, questioning their morality by denouncing men’s violence against women had no impact on their intentions. We conclude that non-confrontational strategies that address men's concerns about feminist advancement can prevent potential defensive reactions and make them more receptive to social change towards gender equality.