Last year, UNDP set out to answer the important question of what is behind women’s economic empowerment, as part of the joint UNDP-UNW-WHO project “Promoting Women’s Leadership”, funded by Denmark.

UNDP’s focus on directly empowering women in Tunisia is not new: we have worked for years to boost women’s skills, confidence, and access to resources such as equipment and raw materials. However, this time we sought to increase our understanding of women’s socio-economic empowerment by talking not only to women but all the people which share their daily lives. To ground ourselves in reality, we hit the field to talk to everyone directly concerned: women entrepreneurs, from agriculture workers to craftswomen; civil society organizations as well as public support structures. This time, most importantly, we also talked to men, recognizing that fathers, brothers, and husbands all play crucial roles in women’s access to work, financial autonomy, and education. Over the years, we had heard many stories of how men could serve either as key obstacles to women or, conversely, as key supporters to women in overcoming social and structural challenges.

This made us think: how can we, as UNDP, turn men into allies and encourage them to be supportive agents and to actively contribute to women’s economic empowerment?

The Genesis: Engaging men in the conversation to understand women’s economic empowerment 

We started by gathering feedback and insights from people and organizations across Kef and Kebili governorates, where the joint programme was focused. Our data pointed us to the conclusion that men’s perceptions and behaviors regarding women’s socio-economic rights were not necessarily driven by beliefs about women, such as the belief that women were undeserving of such rights, but rather by beliefs about the impact that increasing women’s access to such rights would have on men’s place in society .

While this is not groundbreaking information – organizations which have worked on gender equality for decades are well aware – knowledge of such pernicious beliefs has not necessarily translated into results. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on gender equality is sorely off track for 2030. At the rate the world is going now, it will take 140 years to achieve equality of women’s representation in leadership in the workplace . Tunisia is no exception to this worrying delay in bridging the gender gap. While Tunisia has improved its gender equality ranking between 2023 and 2024 and now stands at 115th place out of 146 countries towards achieving full gender parity (versus 128th  place in 2023) , it remains far from achieving full equality of economic participation and opportunity.  Tunisia scores especially low in terms of labour-force participation and estimated earned income .

Such delays in progress suggest that there is a need to do things differently and explore new approaches which can complement what is already being done. First, UNDP looked at the impact we wanted to contribute to, which was to increase the economic empowerment of women including by improving their access to employment, education, vocational training, and financial services. Then, we looked at the obstacles that would need to be addressed, and in particular, to shift the adversarial attitude whereby men perceive that the socioeconomic success of women comes at their expense, to one where men and women see each other as allies, where mutual success is possible and where the empowerment of women is seen to benefit everyone. Inherent in the act of men supporting women would be men supporting themselves, and overall, their community.  Men would have a positive perception of women’s socio-economic rights, in line not only with the normative moral but also the socioeconomic dividends that accrue to societies where women are empowered, but more importantly, we wanted them to actively commit and be involved in increasing women’s access to employment, education, training and financial services. Ultimately, our goal was to trigger a behavioral shift.

The Analysis: Unpacking behaviors and influences

Behaviors are the complex result of a set of driving forces, led by personal, social and environmental factors. If we can’t understand the factors behind a person’s decision, we can’t change the person’s behaviors and, ultimately, their actions.

Through field missions, we had gathered the information to identify the key behavioral factors behind women’s economic empowerment, with a particular focus on men’s role. This was further enriched by a literature review that explored existing research and data from Tunisia and other countries, resulting in a behavioral analysis.

On a personal and psychological level, women often have lower expectations regarding their profession and salary compared to men, influenced by both internal and external pressures. This is compounded by a sense of competition, where men may resist the economic betterment of women due to perceptions of positive discrimination favoring women. There is often a lack of encouragement for women to pursue lucrative or fulfilling careers, which impacts their ability to envision their potential.

Socially, the participation of housewives in the labor market is generally accepted, even welcomed, as it contributes economically to the household. However, this can sometimes be to the detriment of women, as societal pressures play a significant role in shaping or constraining such participation.  Women can face negative public perceptions regarding how much they work outside the home, or if a man engages in domestic tasks. While women entrepreneurs are often admired, they can also be perceived as a threat to traditional male roles as heads of households.

Environmentally, media and communication play a dual role. They can raise the profile of successful women, but they also often perpetuate stereotypes that reinforce negative images of women. Education systems, meanwhile, are frequently inadequate in promoting women’s rights, which limits awareness and opportunities. Additionally, limited accessibility to public spaces restricts women’s opportunities, and the unequal sharing of knowledge and information between men and women further exacerbates this gap.

The collective reflection: Identifying key behaviors

Identifying the behavioral factors was only an intermediate step. What mattered was how we could use these insights to drive our objectives forward.

Meaningful impact often comes from a collective effort fueled by grassroots engagement. Our exploration in Kef in June 2023 and years of work in Kebili provided us with a diverse network of agents of change. They enlightened our behavioral analysis, anchored our initiative in women’s and men’s reality, and helped us to define specific behaviors for which our interventions would be designed. Our collaboration involved regional institutional partners, such as the Regional Social Affairs Departments or the Regional Commission for Women and Family, civil society organizations which support local economic and development activities, and development actors focused on gender equality.

During the course of our intervention design process, we had the opportunity to be inspired by many agents of change at the local level. For example, the experience of the mutually supportive duo of Khamsa, a craftswoman supported by UNDP since 2022 , and her husband, a farmer, from Kebili was a rich sources of inspiration. Khamsa acknowledged that her success in her work would not have been possible without her husband's support. Whenever she needs to be away from home for training or to participate in a fair, he takes on the responsibilities of caring for their children and handling household chores, even though this is not widely accepted in their community. Her husband remarked that witnessing her happiness and fulfillment from her achievements motivates him to support her in every way he can, just to see her shine. Their inputs were valuable in helping us to refine our approach and set achievable behavior goals. In addition, they presented an inspiring and memorable dynamic which touched many participants involved in our initiative.