Men in Young Women’s Lives: Findings from Adolescent Reproductive Health Intervention Studies in India (The)

This brief from the International Center for Research on Women contains updates from five on-going intervention studies across India that examine how men's involvement can affect young women's reproductive health. The findings show fathers as strong supporters of programmes designed to increase their daughters' skills and well being, including sexual health. Additionally, an education programme designed for adolescent boys increased their participation by the inclusion of a popular local figure.

Research has led to several conclusions about men including the fact that men required different communication methods than women. In general, men prefer a more didactic method as compared to participatory methods used with women. While husbands are described as interested in maternal care they rarely participate.

The report indicates that Community Level Educators (CLEs), a team made up of a male and female, have been effective in contributing to helping coupled work through reproductive health issues. They are described ad leading reproductive health education sessions (held concurrently for men and women), providing referrals to services, and conducting counseling sessions. Monitoring and evaluation data and process documentation show these CLEs contributed to unexpected achievements for the project.

The report indicates that it has been difficult to involve men in seeking care for their own reproductive health because of the perceived stigma and subsequent embarrassment surrounding the issue of reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted infections. The report indicates that while the reproductive health field is paying more attention to men’s roles in women’s reproductive health there still needs to be more focus on adolescent males.