By limiting women’s empowerment and affecting men’s health and well-being, norms of restrictive masculinities constitute one of the main barriers towards achieving gender equality. In 2021, to better measure and understand these norms domestically, Ireland became the first country to apply a measuring framework developed by the OECD. This initiative to measure norms of restrictive masculinities at the national level will help inform Ireland’s programmes and policies as well as its gender equality strategy.
Ireland’s application of the OECD’s framework on masculinities
Abstract
Across the world, a large part of the population continues to uphold traditional gender norms – put in simple terms, men are decision-makers and breadwinners whereas women should care for the household and their family members. Ireland is no exception. As of 2023, Irish women bear a disproportionate share of domestic responsibilities, spending over twice as much time as men on unpaid care and household work. Gender disparities also persist in the economic and political spheres. Irish women occupy only one quarter (23%) of parliamentary seats and about one third (36%) of managerial positions.
At the heart of these gender disparities lie discriminatory social norms and particularly restrictive norms of masculinities. These correspond to the shared societal ideas about what men do and should do, as well as what men are and should be – in a nutshell, what it means to be a "real" man according to both men and women. When such norms of masculinities are restrictive rather than gender-equitable, they can harm men’s and boys’ mental health, well-being and social inclusion, while undermining women’s and girls’ rights and opportunities.
Ireland has adopted a proactive approach to address persisting barriers to gender equality. In 2021, the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality recommended the Irish Parliament to urgently tackle omnipresent gender norms and stereotypes. Following this, Ireland embarked on a pioneering initiative aimed at measuring the prevalence of restrictive gender norms and understanding their impact, based on a framework developed by the OECD in 2021 and outlined in the report Man Enough? Measuring Masculine Norms to Promote Women’s Empowerment. OECD’s framework identifies ten norms of restrictive masculinities that tend to be widely accepted across cultures – five in the private sphere and five in the public sphere.
Spearheaded by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth (DCEDIY), Ireland compiled data on relevant and available indicators that allow to measure the prevalence of the ten norms of masculinities of the framework. However, data gaps and limitations did not allow to collect all indicators of the OECD’s framework – notably for the norms related to the private sphere. As a result, Ireland decided to seek alternative options and to include additional indicators that could serve as proxies for the original indicators of the framework. For instance, to measure the social norms that men should not do unpaid care and domestic work, Ireland included data on the share of men and women who find it difficult to combine paid work with their care responsibilities.
Ireland is the first country to successfully apply the OECD’s framework on masculinities at the national level. Data collected and analysed by DCEDIY on restrictive norms of masculinities were published in 2021 in the Statistical Spotlight #6: "Gender norms in Ireland" and disseminated through the national media. Results show that despite important governmental efforts to promote gender equality, restrictive gender roles and responsibilities continue to persist both in the private and public spheres. For example:
39% of the Irish population agrees that the most important role for men is to earn money, while 52% agrees that for women the most important role is to take care of her home and family.
One in six people believe that women do not have the necessary qualities and skills to fill positions of responsibility in politics.
In Ireland, women are more likely than men to be outside the labour force, with the majority of those not seeking employment citing reasons related to the care of adults with disabilities/children or other family/personal reasons.
The report also underlines the scarcity of data required to measure the prevalence of social norms and to track progress. It identifies specific areas where additional data would allow to capture a more detailed picture of masculinities and to assess changes over time.
Although the results in themselves are not cause for celebration, Ireland’s commitment to promote change is. Following the publication of the Statistical Spotlight #6, the government pledged to use the evidence gathered in its policymaking and gender equality strategy, notably to inform the country’s approach on paternity leave, health care policy, and boosting female participation in politics and leadership roles.
Restrictive masculinities persist around the world and constitute a major barrier to achieving gender equality. These social norms and stereotypes that determine women’s and men’s roles and responsibilities in societies are ubiquitous, even in a country like Ireland that has undertaken significant legislative and policy initiatives in recent years to promote gender equality, and where results from the SIGI 2023 show that levels of discrimination in social institutions are very low.
To be effective, policies and programmes that seek to transform social norms must be grounded in evidence. Although some norms of masculinities are common across cultures and places, variations exist. Collecting and/or compiling data at the national and sub-national level is essential to design and implement context-specific strategies. In Ireland, the data collected revealed men’s limited engagement in childcare and household work to the detriment of women’s economic opportunities. These findings are critical to help the government develop policies and programmes aimed at changing this status quo.
Applying OECD’s framework requires to adapt to the reality of data on masculinities – scarce, scattered across several sources and/or not regularly updated. Depending on data availability, countries applying the framework may need to choose other datapoints than those suggested by the OECD. As stated by the Statistical Spotlight #6, Ireland used this approach and compiled alternative or additional indicators to overcome existing data gaps.
Political commitment is key to develop effective policies aimed at transforming restrictive gender norms. Ireland’s dedication to understanding and addressing the root causes of gender inequality was crucial in adopting the OECD framework nationally.
Government of Ireland (2021), "Statistical Spotlight #6: Gender Norms in Ireland", Statistical Spotlight Series, https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/207637/1ffaa942-044a-4fbb-8ded-f4f8bf479a3d.pdf.
Government of Ireland (2021), Exploring Gender Norms in Ireland, https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/242344/a65220d9-8139-4be3-825d-259bb6a0080a.pdf.
Government of Ireland (2021), Minister O’Gorman publishes gender norms report to inform gender equality policy, https://www.gov.ie/ga/preasraitis/0df0b-minister-ogorman-publishes-gender-norms-report-to-inform-gender-equality-policy/.
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OECD (2023), “Gender, Institutions and Development (Edition 2023)”, OECD International Development Statistics (database), https://doi.org/10.1787/7b0af638-en.
OECD (2022), Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls: DAC Guidance for Development Partners, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/0bddfa8f-en.
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Verma, R. (2020), Are men frozen in time? We need to transform rigid masculinities, OECD Development Matters, https://oecd-development-matters.org/2020/03/16/are-men-frozen-in-time-we-need-to-transform-rigid-masculinities/.
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