How can we turn men and boys into violence prevention allies? Lessons from Sweden’s 10-year strategy

As EU Member States put the Directive on Violence Against Women into practice, they are asked to do something many have never done before: build coordinated, multi-layered prevention strategies that tackle violence before it reaches the criminal justice system.

For Peter Söderström, violence-prevention expert at the Swedish Gender Equality Agency, that means starting from an uncomfortable fact.

“The vast majority of violence is perpetrated by us men. It’s all forms of violence: men’s violence against women and children, men’s violence against other men, and also men’s violence against themselves,” he says.

This is why Sweden’s 10-year national strategy puts men and boys at the centre of prevention.

It sees men’s violence against women as “the ultimate consequence of gender inequality”, where some men feel they have the right to control, dominate and use violence against others “because they are women”, reinforced by harmful masculinity norms.

Start early, but keep the responsibility with adults

The EU Gender-Based Violence Survey shows how early experiences of violence shape later victimisation. It finds that 6.6% of women have experienced sexual violence in childhood, and almost half who experienced it did not report it to the police or contact other person or service for support.

And, by their late twenties, 35% of women reported experiencing gender-based violence, compared with 24% in the oldest age group (aged 65-74).

Peter agrees that prevention must start young, but insists the main responsibility sits with adults.

He points to Swedish preschools as “the most progressive”, with teachers sensitive to a gender perspective: encouraging all children to try all toys and activities, sharing space and resources fairly, and challenging stereotypes about what girls and boys “should” do.

The problem, he warns, is what happens when children move on.