Mohamed Altamash Khan: Engaging Boys and Men for Gender Justice in India and Beyond
Mohamed Altamash Khan: Engaging Boys and Men for Gender Justice in India and Beyond
Mohamed Altamash Khan, a GRÓ GEST alumnus from India, has built a career dedicated to reshaping harmful gender norms by engaging boys and men in conversations around equality. Currently, he works as Senior Gender Trainer and Program Manager at the NGO Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA), and is also pursuing a Master’s Degree in Education and International Development at University College London (UCL).
At MAVA, his work includes delivering gender sensitization sessions in schools and colleges, developing gender curricula, facilitating certificate courses on gender studies, and training others on anti-sexual harassment laws, masculinity, and sexuality. Alongside his studies in the UK, he also works as a facilitator with Talk Consent, leading workshops on consent and healthy relationships across British universities and schools.
Confronting Cultural Resistance to Gender Dialogue
A growing concern in Altamash’s work is the influence of the „manosphere”, a space on social media where misogynistic and regressive ideas are normalized and rapidly consumed by young men. „Due to the near-complete absence of formal education around gender and relationships, many boys are turning to the internet, where misinformation thrives,” he explains. „These conversations are often filled with misinformation and are making young people more resistant to the idea of gender equality.”
India’s progress in gender-related indicators, such as female school enrollment and workforce participation, exists alongside deep-rooted resistance to discussing gender, consent, and sexuality, particularly in educational settings. „Such discussions are often viewed as a threat to traditional cultural values and are dismissed or actively opposed.” Educational institutions, he argues, are ill-equipped to counteract the misinformation and cultural pushback that these topics often provoke and lack both the rescources and training to facilitate informed conversations. „Hence, while there are signs of progress, the overall landscape of gender relations remains fraught with challenges, and achieving holistic gender justice still feels like a distant goal.“
A Transformative Moment in His Career
Receiving the GRÓ GEST scholarship marked a transformative point in Altamash’s career. „As a man working in the field of gender, I have often faced challenges, especially from family members, who would question the very nature of my work. They would ask if what I was doing was sustainable or suggest that I do something more „real.” While I always believed in my work, statements like these did affect me and dented my confidence. Receiving the GRÓ GEST scholarship was the validation I needed. It showed the people around me that what I was doing mattered and was being acknowledged at a global level. It gave me the confidence to keep going and helped me stand up for my work.”
The programme equipped Altamash with practical tools in project planning and proposal writing, which he later used to secure over €20,000 . Drawing on his GRÓ GEST training and professional experience, he wrote and edited Transforming Masculinities: A Guide to Engaging Men and Boys for Gender Justice, a training manual now widely used across India.
Integrating Intersectionality into Anti-Harassment Work
His final project at GRÓ GEST explored how intersectional discrimination through caste, religion, sexuality, and ethnicity should be incorporated into anti-sexual harassment trainings. „My final project focused on bringing the concept of intersectional discrimination into anti-sexual harassment trainings at the workplace. Sexual harassment is often viewed through a single lens of gender, but my project argued that other marginalised identities such as caste, sexuality, religion, and ethnicity also play a significant role in shaping an individual’s experience of discrimination and power dynamics. These intersecting identities can determine who is more vulnerable to harassment and how cases are addressed.“
„In a diverse country like India, where caste hierarchies are still very real and embedded in social structures, it becomes especially important to include these layers in our understanding of sexual harassment. Unfortunately, this perspective has often been ignored in mainstream discussions, despite several high-profile cases highlighting the role of caste and other factors in incidents of workplace harassment.“
Through his project, Altamash developed training modules that incorporated these intersectional dimensions into anti-sexual harassment education. „The aim was to offer a more comprehensive and inclusive framework for understanding and addressing harassment, which could eventually lead to more effective redressal mechanisms in Indian workplaces. I believe that unless we acknowledge the full complexity of people’s lived experiences, we cannot create truly safe and equitable work environments.“
Learning in Iceland
Altamash learned about the programme through his director, Mr. Harish Sadani, who recognized his work and contributions at Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA) and nominated him. „Since I was already working in the field of gender, I thought this would be a great opportunity to gain more in-depth knowledge and also have the chance to study in Iceland; a country that has consistently topped global gender equality indices.“
For Altamash, the GRÓ GEST programme was not only an academic opportunity but also a deeply personal experience of global connection and care. Coming from India and traveling abroad for the first time, he found immense value in learning alongside a diverse group of peers from across the world. „I was so well taken care of throughout the program, with all the attention given by our teachers and instructors. The way the course was structured was unique; it was a perfect blend of academic theories like feminist theories and decolonization, along with very practical learning of project development techniques and topics like gender budgeting.”
Lasting Impressions of Iceland
Looking back on his time in Iceland, Altamash remembers the small routines and shared experiences that made the programme memorable. „The time spent in Iceland was like a beautiful dream that I often think about when I want to forget things around me. The cold air on my face every time I stepped out of student housing or the university would make me feel happy, even now as I write this. Our weekly visits to the pools were a highlight that I will never forget. Some of the travel trips we did with the cohort to Diamond Beach and the south coast were surreal. To be able to witness the northern lights was definitely a highlight. One of my fondest memories was the weekends, when the entire city would come alive, and it was such a fun time after the relatively silent weekdays.“
A Lasting Network
Altamash keeps in touch with his fellow GRÓ GEST alumni via a WhatsApp group where they share work-related updates and any opportunities. „I am in touch with fellows from India, Pakistan, and Nepal. I recently hosted a fellow from Kenya at my place, and it was really great.“
Altamash acknowledges that being selected for GRÓ GEST can feel both exciting and overwhelming: „I realize the course might get a bit daunting and you might start doubting yourself, but I remember what my instructor told us on the first day: "Remember, you have been selected by us to be here, and we believe in you. So, if you are not trusting yourself right now, trust our judgment. I would say the same to you: you have been selected among many to be here, you’ve earned it. Have fun and continue doing all the amazing work that you’re doing. I know this will be the most memorable time of your life.“
A Life Committed to Inclusive Gender Justice
Mohamed Altamash Khan is a development professional currently working as a Senior Gender Trainer and Program Coordinator at Men Against Violence and Abuse. As a trainer and an educator, he has conducted several workshops on various themes of gender, sexuality, masculinity, anti-sexual harassment laws, leadership, and self-awareness for colleges, NGOs, and corporate houses. Through these efforts, he has reached out to over 30,000 youths. His expertise lies in developing curricula, designing workshops, qualitative research, conducting training, and youth engagement.
He gratuated with a Master’s Degree in Women’s Studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. His paper titled Experiences of Women Post-Bodo-Muslim Conflict in Kokrajhar 2013 was awarded the Best Paper in the Young Scholar category by the Indian Sociological Society in 2017. He wrote and edited the training manual Transforming Masculinities: A Guide to Engaging Men and Boys for Gender Justice, which was published in 2024.
He was awarded the GRÓ-GEST scholarship to complete a post-graduate diploma in International Gender Studies from the University of Iceland under the auspices of UNESCO. He is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Education and International Development at the Institute of Education, University College London.