The Social Problem of Men: Deliverable 2: Interim Report on National Reports on Research on Men’s Practices from Workpackage 1

This Interim Report constitutes Deliverable 2 of the Thematic Network. It is a Summary Report of the 10 national reports that have been produced as Deliverable 1 within Workpackage 1. This first workpackage reviews relevant academic and analytical literature within each country. Future workpackages focus on statistical data, policy and media within each country. The Thematic Network comprises women and men researchers who are researching on men and masculinities in an explicitly gendered way. The bringing together of both women and men researchers is extremely important in the development of good quality European research on men in Europe. Research on men that draws only on the work of men is likely to neglect the very important research contribution that has been and is being made by women to research on men. Research and networking based on only men researchers is likely to reproduce some of the existing gender inequalities of research and policy development. Gender-collaborative research is necessary in the pursuit of gender equality, in the combating of gender discrimination, and in the achievement of equality and in the fight against discrimination more generally. The Network consists of women and men researchers from ten countries: Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation and the UK (see Appendix 1). It acts as information resource for other researchers and policy-makers.