This book is an attempt to bring the gender and development debate full circle - from a much-needed focus on empowering women to a more comprehensive gender framework that considers gender as a system that affects both women and men. The chapters in the book explore definitions of masculinity and male identities in a variety of social contexts, drawing from experiences in Latin America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa.

In the case of Africa, the book explores the Rwandan tragedy within the continent's rapid urbanisation and growing male youth population - how young men construct their masculinity in the region and the implications for violence, conflict and HIV/AIDS. In the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, the book examines the way in which economic changes brought about by globalisation are impacting labour markets, the nuclear family and the role that fatherhood plays in shaping men's identity. Fatherhood is central to men's sense of their own identity and for the well being of their children. According to the book, regardless of their economic status all men see their own role as the principal provider and often as disciplinarian, similar to the role of men in patriarchal families.

This book points out that while there are many ways of being a man, some ways are more valued than others across societies and cultures. It draws on an emerging realisation that attaining the vision of gender equality will be difficult, if not impossible, without changing the ways in which masculinities are defined and acted upon.

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