On May 20, 2024, Ambassador Donald Steinberg, Executive Director of OSF’s Male Allies for Women, Peace and Security (MAWPS) program, spoke at the USAID Global Gender Engagement Program on the role of male allies in the WPS agenda.
Ambassador Steinberg's remarks at the USAID Global Gender Engagement Program on May 20, 2024:
Thank you, Jamille [Bigio], for that kind introduction, and congratulations to all on the convening of this groundbreaking USAID program on global gender engagement. It is exciting to have 300 gender advisors from around the world participating in this week’s conference. This is the largest session on this topic in the history of the Agency, an encouraging reflection of the cross-cutting nature of our work for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
I will soon celebrate the 50th anniversary of my entry into the U.S. Foreign Service. When I came into the Service in 1975, you could have held a conference with all the USAID gender advisors in one of the small classrooms upstairs. For me, my support for the leadership and engagement of women and marginalized people in our efforts in development, humanitarian relief, diplomacy, and peace processes has been the most rewarding and meaningful work of my career.
This is ironic. As a white, straight, upper-middle-class man, I’ve never felt the exclusion and abuse faced everyday by women and marginalized people. While motivation, goals, empathy, and dedication to gender equality are certainly valid, they define a different role for me: at times an ally, a facilitator, a convener, a partner, and a cheerleader. I’m pleased to share a few thoughts about how I have come to view these roles.
First, I’ve learned to abandon the arrogant male belief that my role is to empower women. Women speak with an authority and authenticity that I’ll never have, and they are fully capable of empowering and advocating for themselves. When I’ve played the role of gatekeeper, my most important job has been to open the doors to the corridors of power for women and to ensure they have the resources, training, and mandate needed to develop and pursue our common goals. Then I step aside.
I’ve also come to recognize that my motivation for pursuing this agenda often differs from those impacted by discrimination. Indeed, male allies tend to view this agenda in utilitarian terms. We believe that women should be at the table, and equally at the head of the table, because their engagement produces better outcomes, provides new insights and ground truth, prevents mistakes due to “group-think”, and builds community ownership and sustainable results.
Fair enough. But those who have felt exclusion know that we must also embrace a rights-based approach. Women have the basic human right to participate fully and to declare, “Nothing about us without us.” That principle was adopted in international law 75 years ago in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And it’s been nearly three decades since a wise stateswoman declared in Beijing that women’s rights are human rights – once and for all.
Similarly, men tend to assess progress solely against measurable goals. This is admirable insofar as it helps to ensure accountability for achieving time-bound results. While endorsing clear metrics, women who have been shunted aside know that the real goal is systemic: changing the unequal gender power dynamics in our structures, eliminating male privilege, levelling the playing field, and banishing the patriarchy.
And while the recipe for success isn’t just “add women and stir,” lasting progress does require equal numbers of women in the mix, even if it means that men – including me – need to surrender our own seats at the table. Otherwise, the few women in the room are relegated to subservient and stereotyped gender roles.
Another key benefit of women’s leadership is that they introduce the concept of intersectionality into the dialogue. Having personally experienced compounding discrimination based on multiple marginalized identities, women understand the unique challenges and abuses faced, for example, by an indigenous woman with a disability who has been displaced by drought or conflict.
I often hear from male colleagues how difficult and even professionally risky it is to engage on these topics. For them, let me offer a few tips on behavior.
First, check your male privilege at the door. It’s not about you. Don’t interrupt, don’t dominate the conversation, and don’t mansplain.
Equally important, don’t assume that your past and present engagement on gender issues has “punched your ticket” and given you special immunity from criticism. You need to re-establish your bona fides in each new engagement.
Don’t burden the women in the room with educating you on these issues – do your own homework in advance.
And don’t forget how highly-charged these issues can be. For you, gender-based abuse, exclusion, and discrimination are issues on the agenda; for women, they are as real, present, hurtful and infuriating as the latest assault on their dignity, which likely occurred sometime earlier today.
If it sounds like I’ve got this all figured out, far from it. I make constant mistakes and apologize frequently. It comes with the territory. But it’s worth the effort. The arc of history bends toward justice and equality only if we work together to bend it in that direction.
Let me conclude on a broad, aspirational note. I believe that in the chaos, confusion and conflict dominating this era, we are witnessing the erosion of a male-dominated, testosterone-driven global system. Our work on gender equality, inclusive development, and local empowerment can help usher in a new paradigm.
· One that promotes global cooperation and coordination instead of “survival of the fittest” competition;
· One that values human security and well-being as much as traditional national security;
· One that embraces flexible, transparent, and pragmatic policies instead of ideology and private interests; and
· One that values diverse, inclusive, and equitable leadership and decision-making, rather than centralized, elitist processes.
It’s a tall order, but it is achievable. I look forward to spending this week with you as we take the next steps together on this historic journey to global gender equality. Thank you.
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