UN Women
Agency: Tidam, Almaty, Kazakhstan
General Director: Ainura Umaeva
Creative director: Denis Eliseev
Chief Operating Officer: Natalya Shorohova
Project Manager: Albina Agapova
Creative Idea: Denis Eliseev, Natalya Sludskaya, Maya Akisheva, Rinat Balgabaev
Production: Ruslan Uvashev, Saida Tsoy, Sergey Tsoy, Miras Umarov
Post production: Ruslan Uvashev, Marlen Abishev
Designer: Assem Kiyalova
Creative copywriting: Assel Iskuzhayeva
Problem
In Kazakhstan, not less than 80 women die from domestic violence each year, with 300 reports of violence against women being filed to the police daily.
90% crimes occur within the home.
Insight
In tradition, it is believed that a “real” man should be authoritative and aggressive.
Why are we surprised that, becoming adults, men rape, beat, and kill?
Idea
We decided to show how not to be a “normal” man in the traditional sense of the word. Thus, uor project “Don’t be a man” was born.
We made 4 films showing how men express emotions and support their daughters. Share household responsibilities with their wives and take care of their children. Stand by women who have experienced domestic violence.
Such men exist, they just remain silent so they won’t be thought of as “unmanly”
Background
The films were created for HeforShe, a solidarity movement for gender equality by UN Women.
They were a part of a wider regional HeforShe Kazakhstan campaign that we developed and implemented in 2022-2023.
We ran investigations, mobilized social media, organized a public talk for youth, and cooperated tightly with press, opinion leaders, and gender equality specialists to mobilize men and boys to counter negative stereotypes and toxic masculinity in Kazakhstan.
Reactions
In Kazakhstan there are almost 20 million people, of which more than 9 million are men. In total, the campaign reached over 15 million people or 75,8 % country’s population.
This means that men have seen our films.
We received more than 1 million$ of in-kind contribution from local businesses.