Missing the Male Gender: Does the Reproductive Health Communication and Promotion Approach Respond to the need to Involve Males? Haregewoin Fatahun and Getachew Alemu

Since the early 1990s there has been a growing interest in the role of men in reproductive health. The 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development, and the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women formally recognized the key role of men in promoting better reproductive health for men and women, women empowerment and gender equality. The failure of reproductive health communication and promotion efforts to promote men’s and women’s needs and rights equally may lead to male exclusion. Males may remain not informed of their reproductive health roles and responsibilities and may not bring the desired behavioral change which is decisive for improved gender relations and positive reproductive health outcomes. This paper thus aims at analyzing the reproductive health communication and promotion discourses to see how males are represented / constructed. It also attempts to examine the social construction of male involvement in reproductive health. To do so, the content and structure of reproductive health policy and program documents, and public messages will be analyzed. Primary data will also be obtained from reproductive health education lessons and in-depth individual interviews in the rural areas of Ethiopia. The findings of the study are intended to have implications to reproductive health program