The European Research Network on men in Europe: the social problem and societal problematisation of men and masculinities Draft Interim Final Report: "The social problem of men"

Purpose and Structure of this Report
This Interim Draft Final Report brings together the work of the European Rsearch Network on Men in Europe over the last 20 months. It is intended that this draft report will act as the basis of the Draft Final Report, and as such feedback and comment are welcomed. There are several diiferent ways of organising the material in the Final Report and this are discussed in section 7 below (see p. 61). Feedback on these alternatives is sought at this stage.

The work of the Network has been organised through 4 main phases of ‘workpackages’. The report is structured around the reseults of these workpackages. The first workpackage reviewed relevant academic and analytical literature on men’s practices within each country. The second workpackage reviewed relevant statistical information on men’s practices within each country, and the third reviewed law and policy on men’s practices. The fourth workpackage has examined newspaper representations on men and men’s practices within each country. For each workpackage there are national reports for each of the 10 participating countries. We also draw attention to the first set of national reports from Workpackage 1, as these also include infromation on: a) the general national/societal gender situation, including broad shifts in masculinity formations, and relationship between different masculinities; and b) general or basic texts on men and masculinities, including the growth of focused studies.

The report also provides some information on the other outputs of the Network, including the European Data Base and Documentation Centre on Men’s Practices (www.cromenet.org) and relevant publications of the Network members, collectively and individually, arising from the Network’s activities.