Ambassador Henry MacDonald

Too often when addressing gender equality the issue tends to remain the preserve of women talking with other women, while men dismiss it as a “woman’s issue”. Without the engagement of all of society in this fundamental topic we will not be able to achieve gender equality. We must engage men and boys in the fight for the benefit of all of us, men and women, girls and boys.

Iceland and Suriname have therefore decided to organize a conference to be held in New York on 14-15 January 2015, referred to as the “Barbershop Conference”.

The conference will aim at activating men and boys in the fight for gender equality and changing the discourse among men and boys. We believe that by having men talk about masculinity and gender equality with other men we may get a different kind of insight and may produce innovative ways of engaging, mobilizing and motivating men to fight for gender equality and address unhealthy stereotypes of masculinity.

H.E. Henry MacDonald

Permanent Mission of Suriname to the United Nations

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