Methodological Framework Report

The work of Sub-network 2 builds on the work of the European Thematic Network on Research on Men in Europe, “The Social Problem and Societal Problematisation of Men and Masculinities”, that operated 2000-2003, within the EU Framework 5 Programme. The overall aim of the Thematic Network was to develop empirical, theoretical and policy outcomes on the gendering of men and masculinities in Europe. It comprised women and men researchers researching on men and masculinities in an explicitly gendered way. The central focus of the Research Network’s effort was, as its name implies, the investigation of the social problem and societal problematisation of men and masculinities. The reference to ‘social problem’ refers to both the problems created by men, and the problems experienced by men. The notion of societal problematisation refers to the various ways in which the ‘topic’ of men and masculinities has become and is becoming noticed and problematised in society – in the media, in politics, in policy debates, and so on. This focus is set within a general problematic: that changing and improving gender relations and reducing gender inequality involves changing men as well as changing the position of women1