Challenges to Building Partnerships
- New alliances can make us uncomfortable. We may have to work with people with whom we disagree on important issues, such as an employer whose business pollutes the environment or an organization that doesn’t share our political views. Moreover, our existing partners might be critical of new allies. For example, we may need to work with an organization that actively opposes the shelter initiative that is being promoted by an existing partner.
- Our potential allies also are likely to have preconceptions about us. We must all set aside our differences and prejudices, perhaps changing how we discuss certain issues or muting some messages, so we can focus on a common cause.
- We must be aware that some groups or individuals seeking our assistance may actually be a part of the problem. For example, a company seeking our partnership to support a public campaign against sexual harassment may be using the work as a publicity smokescreen to hide the fact the company is being sued for allowing sexual harassment in the workplace.
- Organizational alliances will mean more women and men working together. Typically, men have not been part of the struggle for the safety and advancement of women, nor do many men work as domestic or sexual violence service providers. Trust between women and men in the prevention field is not a given, and there isn’t always a shared understanding of the work’s goals.
The challenge for some men is to learn to work with respect for women, to share leadership and defer to those with greater authority. Other men may feel guilty about the existence of men’s violence and their male privileges, and their challenge is to set aside their guilt and value their insights and contributions.
Women also face challenges in sharing the work with men. Some need to let go of their assumption that men can’t be trusted to work on these issues or that men just want to take over. Other women must learn not to fall back into traditional patterns of deference when men are around. And still others may need to learn to share power with men who have less experience in the field, but still have something to contribute.
For more information and exercises about personal development for men and women, see What Men and Boys Can Do. [[internal link to Get to Work, What Men & Boys Can Do section]]
Reflection Questions
- How is your organization willing to compromise in order to forge new partnerships?
- What would your organization be unwilling to change?
- What in your personal and professional experience has highlighted the difficulties of men and women working together for violence prevention?
- What are some ways to overcome the challenges to building new partnerships? How can we move forward?
Discussion Board
Share your responses and see what other people are saying about challenges of building organizational alliances and men and women working together for preventing gender-based violence.
Exercise: Expanding Alliances
This will help organizations examine the possibility of building new alliances in order to increase their impact.
