In the year since our last Report, issues of men and masculinity continue to exercise the media and, more significantly, appear to be becoming embedded in the consciousness of policy makers. Although practice has grown steadily over the past decade the last year has seen a significant shift as policy makers have begun to 'catch up' and recognise the value of targeted work with boys and men. Levels of exclusion, which drives much of the Labour Government's social policy initiatives, has allowed room for an increasingly focused approach to masculinity and issues affecting men.
The Social Exclusion Unit's report on teenage pregnancy is but the most obvious example of a shift in thinking, policy and, hopefully, support for practice. While the most publicised elements of the report which considered the role and needs of young men focused on the enforcing of financial responsibility for parenthood, it also highlighted the gaps in young men's education and their need for advice, information and support around sexual health and contraception.
The exclusion debate has stretched wider into concern about boys and men and literacy, unemployment and crime. Of course, we are still waiting to see what impact this paradigm shift in thinking will have on the detail. Caution and cynicism should not be allowed to take hold, however. We already know that the Department of Health have included work with boys and men as a priority area for grant giving this financial round (1999-2001) and that 16 organisations have already received a total of £485,000 from the Home Office for work on fatherhood or with young men.
For WWM, this significant shift in the last year or so has confirmed our own broader base. Research, consultancy, evaluation and resource production as well as training are now our core activities. Looking at the projects we have been involved in (either completed or ongoing) over the last year, there has been a significant increase in workload.
The bulk of this has taken the form of research and consultancy work, for example, the Young men's attitudes to work project, Boys and Literacy project, Suicide and young men. Much of this type of work now sits within a national context and accordingly has a much higher profile than was previously the case. We are now seeking and receiving monies for work of both depth and breadth. The questions we are now being asked no longer focus on "Why do the work?" nor even simply "How do we do the work?" but "How do we prove that it is effective?"
With the increased workload, the structure of WWM has also had to grow. To this end, we have recruited a number of new consultants. Most of these are men and women we have worked with or had substantial contact with over the years and who, we hope, will play a more active role in WWM.
| Peter Baker | David Bartlett | Paul Brown | Neil Davidson |
| Mike Farnfield | Simon Forrest | Ken Harland | Colin Heyman |
| Trefor Lloyd | Khalid Abdul Karim Mair | Mike Massaro | Kevin Murphy |
| Lindsay Neil | Jon Ota | Mark Price | Chris Reed |
| Sandy Ruxton | John Seex | Sue Sharpe | Paul Wolf-Light |
However, this expansion will not redirect us away from our practice base; indeed, we have sought to recruit those associates strongly rooted in work with men and boys. Even though we are increasingly involved in policy and research work, understanding masculinity and its impact on men and how we develop practice will remain at the core WWM's work.
