The Centre for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra (UC) will lead a research project funded by the European programme for Rights, Equality and Citizenship. The project X-MEN “Masculinities, Empathy, Nonviolence” aims to break the cycles of exposure to violence in childhood and adolescence that have their origin in - and are also generators of - gender inequalities.

In addition to several impacts in the fields of economy and health, the COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges to strategies to combat and prevent gender violence. Continuing the research line of the team coordinated by Tatiana Moura (CES-UC), dedicated to the promotion of non-violent masculinities for the advancement of gender equality, X-MEN proposes a renewed focus on violence and its implications in the construction of masculinities and gender inequalities, in vulnerable contexts where the impacts of COVID-19 are still little known.

National and European data indicate that the pandemic has brought increased challenges to these institutions related to the implementation of equality promotion strategies. The X-MEN project focuses on a vulnerable public - young people aged 12 to 18 years old in institutional contexts, such as educational centres and centres for migrant children - who have been witnesses or victims of aggression and violence in its multiple forms, and who are isolated from their family and community contexts.

Starting this month, lasting for 2 years, and following a participative approach of engagement with the target audience, the project aims to produce knowledge on the impacts of COVID-19 on gender expressions, gender relations and gender behaviour. It also aims to promote the capacity building of education and social action professionals, providing them with internationally validated tools, adapted to the contexts under study, to deal with adverse childhood experiences, gender construction and the promotion of non-violent models of masculinity.

In this sense, the team coordinated by Tatiana Moura, and which also includes Linda Cerdeira, Tiago Rolino and Bruno Sena Martins, was already responsible for the implementation of the projects PARENT, which aimed to address the challenges of prevention and eradication of violence against women and children, based on the promotion of caring and non-violent masculinities, and EQUI-X which sought to bring to the EU new approaches to prevent gender-based violence among girls/women and boys/men, while promoting innovative strategies to empower them, addressing gender construction and promoting non-violent models of masculinity.

With a budget totalling 628 thousand euros, CES will be in charge, as coordinating entity of X-MEN, of managing a budget of around 370 thousand euros. The CEPAIM Foundation (Spain) and the non-governmental organisation STATUS M (Croatia) are the partners that will develop and implement the project in these countries. In Portugal, X-MEN also counts on the support of CIG – Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality and the General Directorate of Reintegration and Prison Services.