The Australian Embassy in Vientiane and CARE International organised a friendly competition for its 'Standing Up, Speaking Out' (SUSO) champions who stepped out of their comfort zones and into the kitchen, showing their support for 16 Days of Activism to end violence against women.
Last year, using Australian Government Direct Aid Program (DAP) small grants funding, CARE enlisted the support of ten male Lao community leaders willing to talk about violence against women and promote social change as part of the 'SUSO campaign'.
In the Lao People's Democratic Republic, as elsewhere in the world, entrenched gender roles play an important part in defining what it means to be a man or a woman. For too many men, this includes attitudes and behaviours that normalise or accept violence against women. CARE International has been supporting Lao men to challenge these norms around masculinity.
Modelled on a similar event staged by Australia's Embassy in Hanoi, five SUSO champions entered the kitchen on 27 November – White Ribbon Day – for a cook-off, to spread the message that violence against women is not acceptable.
The sight of Lao men competing to impress peers with their cooking skills is a novelty in Laos, where it is usually women who work in the kitchen. Popular Lao Musician and SUSO champion, Sam Intharaphithak, found the experience challenging "Women make cooking look easy but it requires many different skills, cutting and slicing vegetables and meat, rolling up a fresh spring roll... I don't think I did a very good job at cooking those dishes, maybe I did okay with the lime and soda drink!"
The ten 'Standing Up, Speaking Out' (SUSO) champions include two Lao pop music stars (one an Australia Awards alumni), a prominent academic, an ethnic Hmong student activist, and a senior Lao Government official.
The event was covered by Lao National TV, which will broadcast a story on the SUSO campaign for a national television audience.
CARE Lao Country Director, Glenn Bond, said the SUSO campaign was an important initiative to help reverse the acceptance of violence by perpetrators and their communities.
"Our hope is to reach an even wider audience of Lao men this time around, who will in turn take greater responsibility for their role in ending violence against women," he said.
Australia's Ambassador to the Lao PDR, John Williams, said it was vital to start conversations around how to change men's attitudes in a country where more than one in every seven women experienced physical and/or sexual violence at the hands of an intimate partner.
"SUSO, established by CARE with Australian Aid funding, is an excellent vehicle to raise public awareness about the responsibilities of men and their role in standing up against violence against women," Williams said.
He said CARE's SUSO champions engage in public appearances and messages to challenge stereotypes about what makes a man.
"Experience shows engaging men and boys to challenge views that see violence as part of manhood is vital to achieving greater equality between women and men" the Ambassador said.
CARE's work on SUSO seeks to enable men and boys to become agents and activists for change, and to challenge and explore alternative masculinities based on justice and human rights.
More information
Video: Lao men standing up, speaking out
The first stage of the SUSO campaign included the creation of this short film that encouraged men to take a stand to stop the normalisation of violence against women.