Creating a fairer society where men and women alike can achieve their full potential is an important goal. This can only be achieved if both men and women actively engage in making it a reality; both men and women have much to gain from a more equal society.

However, let’s be realistic, on the surface, this issue seems straightforward: equality is good for everyone; we should all want to achieve it, but in reality, men don’t think it’s about them – in their mind gender is all about women.

While many men, if not most, agree with the concept of gender equality, fewer have actively sacrificed themselves to create impact and their participation towards achieving gender equality remains low.

Men can actively promote gender equality by taking parental leave, sharing the double shift of childcare and housework, challenging their peers and calling out sexist behaviours where they occur – in the street, at the workplace, online and by speaking out about the ways in which gender inequality limits the opportunities of boys and men.

Restrictive gender roles and stereotypes harm men, women, boys as well as girls. For real change, everybody has to acknowledge and understand that better for women means better for all.

Activism for gender equality has been perceived by many as women’s area. This has led some men to become reluctant to enter the field traditionally tainted as a woman’s space so that they may not be seen as feminised – for various reasons including fear of ridicule.

Equally, some women are also ambivalent about men entering this space, resenting what they see as men’s attempts to define and control it.

It is for these reasons that I welcome initiatives or campaigns that seek to educate men on gender equality and its promotion and engage them in the fight against gender inequality and violence.

Locally, we have taken some few but significant steps on this front with the likes of Rwanda Men Resource Centre (RWAMREC) driving the positive masculinity amongst young men and boys and the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion initiating the Men Engage Programme – which seeks to engage men and boys as agents to change in the prevention of Gender Based Violence and child abuse.

On a global level, the HeForShe campaign, recently introduced by UN Women, has taken over the social media sphere, calling all men to join their sisters in the fight against inequality or, in their words, calling them to become HeForShe.

Through this campaign President Paul Kagame was selected as a HeForShe Champion in recognition of his relentless push for a more equal Rwanda. Rightly so, Rwanda has indeed achieved tremendously with regards to gender promotion under his leadership.

All men in Rwanda and across the globe should follow suit if we are to live in a country and a world without discrimination, especially based on gender.

I am proud to say that, not only am I a supporter of our local initiatives to engage more men in gender promotion, but I have also joined the HeForShe movement by signing up on their website www.heforshe.org and becoming a HeForShe.

I did this for the simple reason that I truly believe that men and boys can become true agents of change by challenging discrimination, sexism and gendered violence, and by speaking out about the ways gender inequality indirectly, and sometimes directly, affects men and boys as well.

While we have made significant progress, there remains a wide gap between the numbers of men who support greater gender equality, and those who are actively engaged in achieving it.

The voice of individual men and men’s groups working on these issues need to be heard and supported if we are to unlock their full potential so that they can engage other men and contribute to the growing male voice in this area. We must encourage and support these men to speak out to make equality a reality.

The writer is a gender expert based in Kigali