While men still dominate leadership roles within national and international security structures, they have remained on the sidelines of the Women, Peace and Security movement. With the increasing awareness of the Women, Peace and Security mandates in countries around the world, men who are personally moved by this agenda are stepping forward as supporters and contributors. However, there are obstructions (both institutional and perceptional) that have limited the engagement of men and the powerful impact they could have by supporting this mandate vocally. Recently, there has been more attention on engaging men, but the efforts have been ad hoc and lessons have not been documented sufficiently.
In 2017, Our Secure Future, a program of One Earth Future, launched a new project to begin to address this significant gap. Through interviews and surveys of leaders from across sectors of the US government, US military, other governments and militaries, civil society, and international organizations, this project is collecting the reflections of men who are promoting gender equality in peace and security policy and practice. Between December 2016 and July 2017, more than 50 semi-structured phone and Skype interviews were conducted for this project and more than 20 survey responses were collected and analyzed. This study is meant to provide important foundational knowledge that can inform policy, research, and advocacy to support the next stage of growth for the Women, Peace and Security movement.