Our work
Emancipator works on men’s emancipation: changing societal norms for men and masculinity. In order to achieve gender equality, men must also change.
Men’s emancipation is about preventing violent masculinity and promoting caring masculinity, as a contribution to the emancipation of women and lhbtqia+ persons and the liberation of men from traditional masculinities.
We connect organisations, professionals and activists to each other and to our topics, disseminate knowledge, information and inspiration on men’s emancipation, and strengthen other players in the fields of emancipation and masculinity. By focusing on capacity development and promoting expertise, we provide professionals, activists and men themselves with the information, inspiration and tools they need to promote men’s emancipation in their own environment.
This is how Emancipator works as a driving force for men’s emancipation at local, national and international level. We do this in a variety of projects and networks together with partners, by offering customised training courses and workshops at schools, companies and other organisations, and with publications on all kinds of related topics.
We offer workshops and training courses on masculinity, on various themes and for all target groups. For primary or secondary education, vocational schools, colleges and universities, and for both staff as well as pupils or students. We also provide training for companies and other organisations.
Here you will find all our books, reports, handouts, research and toolkits. For example, on working with boys on preventing street harassment or gender-based violence, engaging fathers with their children, or creating space for gender diversity among teenagers.
Nationaal Actie Programma (National Action Programme): Men’s emancipation as part of the solution
Emancipator works within the National Action Programme on Sexual Transgressive Behaviour and Sexual Violence (NAP) to involve boys and men in preventing (sexual) violence. (Following page in Dutch.)
EquAlley
The EquAlley project is a 24-month school education project funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme with partners from Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. It aims to tackle gender stereotyping, social injustice and gender-based violent behaviour among young people, particularly in public spaces.
Utrecht: Tackling street intimidation
In Utrecht, we are working to prevent street harassment. We provide the municipality with advice and input on the development of policy against street harassment, and together with Fairspace we made the toolkit ‘Tackling street intimidation: How do you start the conversation?’
We also offer workshops and training in Utrecht on men’s emancipation, and training on how to use the toolkit. (linked page is in Dutch)
Amsterdam: Veilige Steden
In Amsterdam, we work on behalf of and in cooperation with the municipality to prevent gender-based violence and street harassment. We work to raise awareness among key figures and actors, give workshops to various target groups, and offer training to key figures to activate them to contribute themselves to improve awareness among boys and men in Amsterdam. (linked page is in Dutch)
Alliantie Worden Wie je Bent
The Alliance Worden Wie je Bent (Becoming Who You Are) works with the education field to ensure that pupils feel free to make the choices that suit them best. Gender stereotypes have a great influence on those choices, and if pupils do not live up to the expectations that comes with it, they can face social insecurity – from lack of understanding to bullying. By means of guest lectures, workshops, inspiration sessions and in-depth programmes, we reach out to schools, teachers, deans, policymakers and intermediary organisations to work with them on social safety and give pupils the opportunity to develop themselves, without being limited by gender stereotypes. The Alliance Worden Wie je Bent is a cooperation between VHTO, School & Veiligheid, Movisie and Emancipator and is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
Alliantie Politica
The Alliantie Politica (Alliance Politica) has been working since 2023 to encourage women’s political participation. Politics is still a male-dominated world, not only nationally but also in the provinces, municipal councils and water authorities. And that is problematic not only because women should also be able to participate in decision-making on issues that concern them, but also because diversity in politics leads to better decision-making.
That is why, starting this year, Vote for a Woman, the Nederlandse Vrouwenraad (Dutch Women’s Council), Emancipator and WO=MEN (Dutch Gender Platform) in the Alliantie Politica, with the support of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, will start working to stimulate the political participation of women in all their diversity. To achieve this, we are collaborating with governments and political parties, besides setting up training courses and networks for female aspirants and politicians, investigating current obstacles and learning from countries around us.
Images: International Men And Gender Equality Survey
IMAGES is an international comparative study on men’s experiences, coordinated by Promundo. Emancipator is working on a Dutch IMAGES report based on existing research on men in relation to the various IMAGES topics.
White Ribbon Campaign: men against gender-based violence
Grensverleggers (Boundary shifters)
The Grensverleggers project brings together groups of young people from different backgrounds to reconnect with each other and set up cool projects together. You yourself can choose the area in which you want to see change in the world. (Following page in Dutch)
Previous projects
Nijmegen: Praat Samen over de Grens
Be the (hu)man you wish to see in the world
Werk.en.de Toekomst: Towards equal opportunities and possibilities in employment and training
Werk.en.de Toekomst – a collaboration between Atria, Institute on gender equality and women’s history, Emancipator, the Dutch Women’s Council (NVR) and VHTO, National expert organization on girls/women and science/technology – is committed to breaking gender stereotyping in education and the labour market and improving opportunities to reconcile work, care and learning.
Men’s emancipation Rotterdam
FOK ME HOKJE: A performance about gender and sexual orientation
Studio 52nd welcomes you to the animal kingdom, where male flamingos incubate other people’s eggs and male anemone fish turn into females. FOK ME HOKJE was written by young people and is performed by professional actors. Emancipator is partner.
(Following pages in Dutch)
EquiTeens: Promotion of gender equality and non-violent relationships for young teenagers
EquiTeens is a cooperation between organisations in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria and the Netherlands. We are working on a toolkit to promote gender equality and combat harmful gender stereotypes among young teenagers in order to prevent gender-based violence.
HEAR ME NOW: Photo exhibition
HEAR ME NOW is a travelling exhibition with portraits and stories of twelve women and men who contribute to the mission of breaking the taboo. HEAR ME NOW offers a beginning of a conversation about sexual violence. The exhibition is supported with workshops. Emancipator is a partner.
Mannenberaad (Men’s Council): The conversation no one else is having
The Mannenberaad project was initiated during the first corona-lockdown, in order to offer men a place where they can easily seek advice and guidance. By tackling small problems early, we can prevent them from growing too big. Mannenberaad offers support without actually naming it support.
(Following pages in Dutch!)
Nee Man! (No, man!) The podcast about being a man.
Nee Man! is a podcast series about being a man. Because being a man is not as obvious as it seems. Nee Man! brings conscious and unconscious sexist gender stereotypes of and about men to light, and tries to break them down by telling a different story.
Vaders onder Druk (fathers under pressure): prevention of domestic violence in Rotterdam
For ‘Vaders onder Druk’ we work together with Dona Daria, SPIOR and Skin Rotterdam. We are organising a variety of activities for Rotterdam fathers to give them an outlet and teach them how to deal with stress. In this way we hope to prevent domestic violence and child abuse.
(Following pages in Dutch!)
Alliantie Mannenemancipatie Amsterdam (Alliance men’s emancipation Amsterdam)
The Alliantie Mannenemancipatie Amsterdam focuses on connecting organisations and professionals, strengthening expertise, putting men’s emancipation on the agenda and developing interventions to promote men’s emancipation in Amsterdam. (following pages in Dutch)
Alliantie Genderdiversiteit (Gender diversity Alliance 2019-2020)
The ‘Alliantie Genderdiversiteit’ was a collaboration between Doetank PEER, Rutgers, Movie and Emancipator. The project brought together dozens of Dutch organisations working to increase acceptance of gender diversity and combat gender stereotypes. In 2019 and 2020, we organised four brainstorms and four knowledge hubs on various topics related to gender.
Breaking the Cycle: Engaging men and boys for promoting gender equality and ending violence against women (2019)
Together with partners from India, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Samoa and Spain, we worked on involving men in the prevention of gender-based violence. For the opening ceremony we were in Samoa, for a seminar we visited Delhi, in the Netherlands we organised a study visit, in Sri Lanka we got a train-the-trainer and in Spain we ended the project with a big event.
Handelingsperspectief Mannenemancipatie (2016) (Action perspectives for men’s emancipation)
The ‘Handelingsperspectief Mannenemancipatie’ is a collection of information, infographics and concrete tools and recommendations for professionals, organisations and policy makers to promote men’s emancipation. It has been developed as part of the project ‘Mannenemancipatie 2.0’ (2014-2016).
(Following pages in Dutch)
Mannenemancipatie 2.0 (2014-2016)
With this project, we worked on the further development, strengthening and facilitation of the Man 2.0 network, now MenEngage NL, international exchange of expertise and experience on men’s emancipation, and the development of an action perspective on men’s emancipation for policymakers, organisations and professionals.
(Following pages in Dutch)
