New Delhi, Nov 3 (IANS): The active engagement of males to help enhance gender equality amd counter violence against women are some of the issues, which would be taken up at a symposium to be held here Nov 10-13.

The second MenEngage Global Symposium, 2014, is being organised by an alliance of over 400 organisations working with men on issues of gender equality, including United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women, and Beijing 20.

It would bring together researchers, activists and many unsung heroes from over 93 countries, a release said here Monday.

Abhijit Das, Director, Centre for Health and Social Justice (CHSJ) said that the symposium would focus on setting the agenda for men's involvement in issues concerning gender equality and stopping violence against women.

This is "in response to the unacceptable levels of violence against women and extreme brutality that men, often in groups, take recourse to and the growing urge of thousands of men across the world to redefine and reinvent masculinity and demonstrate their readiness to work for gender equality," he added.

The symposium will also see the release of a mega study, conducted by the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) in collaboration with UNFPA on "Masculinity, Son Preference and Intimate Partner Violence in India".

Ravi Verma, Regional Director, ICRW, said that the study revealed some disturbing trends. "I was expecting that with education and exposure, the youth is changing and moving towards equality but this is clearly not the case".

As one of the key partners of the symposium, Rebecca Reichmann Tavares, UN Women's Representative for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka, said that the UN Women's relationship with the MenEngage Global Symposium could be best described as "a long term alliance towards transforming the social norms that limit opportunities for women and girls and restrict men and boys to certain roles".