Women's equality in household financial decision-making

CARE's EMERGE Program uses economic initiatives as an entry point to work more closely with households on gender. It provides training to married couples to enhance their respectful communication on matters such as money management, positive parenting, support for household work and decision-making. Through this project, male change agents engage with political and religious leaders to create space for dialogue about gender-based violence and develop alternative definitions of masculinity.

Journeys of Transformation in CARE Rwanda, CARE Uganda and CARE Burundi as well as Indashyikirwa in CARE Rwanda offer models that invite men and couples to reflect on rigid gender norms, to examine their personal attitudes and beliefs and to question traditional ideas about household decision-making and division of labour.

The Young Men Initiative in CARE Balkans, CARE DRC and CARE Burundi is a groundbreaking programme working with young men to deconstruct masculinity in their cultures and determine how gender norms and male socialisation lead to inequitable attitudes and behaviours.

Abatangamuco in CARE Burundi is a social movement of men, supported by their wives or partners, who speak to their communities about their own transformation. Male change agents share their stories of positive personal change with their peers and communities to help influence others to critically reflect on and change their own beliefs and behaviours around violence and respect for women and girls.

Husband schools in Niger, which has been implemented by the United Nations Population Fund as well as CARE, bring men over 25 years of age together to discuss health issues, discuss how to support women's participation in community life and develop action plans.

Family Business Management Training (FBMT) in Papua New Guinea works with smallholder coffee producers' families that typically run their business at the household level, sharing tasks inside the family. Women bear the burden of both productive and reproductive work while men control the budget decisions. The FBMT engages both men and women to improve their financial and management skills and, at the same time, share the workload inside and outside the house in a more equitable manner, which makes the whole family happier and more productive.