Do you have an inspiring story about someone who has stood up against unfair gender norms? Or of a community that has evolved towards more equality and justice? For this issue of the Engagingmen.net e-magazine, we invite you to contribute stories about the movement towards gender justice.

What small acts of resistance have inspired you? What stories remind us that power dynamics and gendered norms can and do change? Tell us your stories of resistance and stories of change – from your family, community, from folklore or places you have visited. Tell us about the heroines and heroes of these stories, what inspired them and how their acts contributed to larger social change.

Prof. Raewyn Connell (University of Sydney), a leading expert on gender, masculinities and social change, will be the guest editor of this upcoming issue of the Engagingmen.net e-magazine.

Before submitting your own story, please read Prof. Connell’s overview for the E-magazine here.

Why share your story?

In moving from a present of inequality and struggle, to a future of gender justice, large numbers of people must take an active role. We are not only resisting an unjust gender order, we also have to build the new world. The stories of building need to be told: how families, villages, neighbourhoods or factories are made more gender-just.

Thus, the objectives of this E-magazine are:

• To inspire action – both big and small - for gender justice;
• To amplify stories from those who may not be used to telling their stories... these stories are a valuable contribution toward bringing about change; and
• To gain a better understanding of the change process – by sharing the stories of the gender justice movement that is occurring, and that must grow.

If your submission is selected..

Stories that are selected for inclusion in this Engagingmen.net e-magazine will be published electronically and in hard copy by Partners for Prevention (www.partners4prevention.org). The magazines will be widely distributed among Engagingmen.net members and practitioners around the world.

In addition to being published and helping to inspire others to take action for gender justice, the authors of the stories selected for publication will receive 20 copies of the printed Engagingmen.net e-magazine, as well as a copy of Professor Connell’s acclaimed book, Gender (2009).

Submissions and Selection Criteria

Starting now through 2 October 2011, we invite you to contribute your story.

To submit your story, click the buttons below.

Each story should be between 300-1000 written words or a video under 5 minutes, and should answer the following questions:

• What was the situation before?
• Who took action and what did they do?
• Why?
• What changed as a result of their action? Please try to describe the outcomes in terms of new relationships, new institutions, and/or new understanding of gender relations.

Stories will be selected based on their originality and number of members ‘liking’ the submission. All Engagingmen.net members can ‘like’ up to three submissions by clicking the ‘like’ buttons on www.engagingmen.net/groups/stories-resistanceandchange.

We encourage you to invite your friends and networks to ‘like’ their favourite submissions. The most ‘liked’ submissions will be submitted to the Enagagingmen.net team, who will make the final decision on the stories to be included in the e-magazine and printed publication.

To see the previous Engagingmen.net e-magazine ‘16 Days of Activism: Our Collective Action’, see www.engagingmen.net/e-magazine-issue-1.