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The EchtMannelijk Alliance

Turn­ing off the tap at the source.

For decades the Netherlands has invested in women's safety, yet the numbers barely move. We focus above all on the symptoms and leave the cause untouched. The RealStrength Alliance does address that cause: an outdated norm of masculinity that exhausts men and makes women less safe.

Why now

The damage runs into billions a year; investing at the source costs a fraction of that. Exactly how much, we measure in phase 0.
€11.2 bnis what gender-based violence against women costs Dutch society each year, 14.2 billion including men. For the EU-27, EIGE estimates the costs at 290.3 and 366.3 billion respectively. More than half of that is monetised suffering rather than actual expenditure; 20.6% criminal justice, 14.0% lost productivity.
Every 8 daysa woman is killed in the Netherlands, averaged over the past ten years. In more than half of cases it is a partner or former partner. That number of intimate partner killings has not shifted in fifteen years; the total did fall, but has been almost flat for the past ten years.
3 in 4of men do not endorse the restrictive Man Box norm, while 36 per cent do feel the pressure to live up to it. Australian research among more than 3,500 men aged 18 to 45; a Dutch measurement does not yet exist and is the first the Alliance wants to commission.
26.4%less is what men earn who stop working for family reasons, averaged over the rest of their career. For women it is 23.2%: the system prices visible care, whoever takes it on. Coltrane et al. (2013), US data; the difference between men and women was not statistically significant.

What the Alliance does

01

Continuity across generations

We work to a horizon of 20 to 50 years. The Alliance provides the continuity a norm shift across generations requires, independent of political cycles or one-off funding.

02

Turning science into action

The Alliance translates complex insights from the behavioural sciences into scalable interventions and a strong national narrative. Validated methods are made widely available.

03

Focus on the mainstream

Not the 'inner circle' that is already convinced, but the average Dutch person. The Alliance creates the social context in which respectful masculinity becomes the most attractive and logical choice.

The approach in eight phases

0

Research & baseline measurement

Making the invisible costs of the current culture of masculinity tangible.

1

The unmasking

Showing men that the Man Box harms them too, intrinsic motivation through insight.

2

The new heroes

Positive role models showing what masculinity can also be: autonomous, caring, emotionally intelligent.

3

The training programme

From insight to ingrained behaviour: guided, paced training in self-regulation, connection and breaking the silence.

4

Demolishing barriers

Employers and public bodies adjust the 'architecture of the norm', HR, leave, informal culture.

5

The status shift

Redefining status: from dominance to generativity, the power to help others grow.

6–7

Generation 0 & radical autonomy

Breaking the intergenerational cycle. Being a man as a personal style, not a set of instructions.

The social dividend

Repairing afterwards is expensive. Gender-based violence against women costs Dutch society an estimated €11 billion a year, and more than €14 billion including men. By way of comparison, and it is not a clean comparison because more than half of that amount is monetised suffering rather than actual expenditure: the entire budget of the national police force is €8.5 billion in 2026. Virtually everything we spend on it, we spend after it has happened.

Turn that around and invest at the source, and it pays off in at least three places at once.

01

Healthcare

A man who suppresses tension for years pays for it with his body: cardiovascular disease, addiction, suicide. Add the care women need after violence, and you see how much suffering and how much cost could be prevented here.

02

Productivity

The norm of the always-available employee produces burnout and people who quietly check out. Where someone can say in time that they’re struggling, fewer people drop out, teams work together better and less talent is lost.

03

Safety

A large part of the work of the police and the judiciary goes to escalations that start with men who can’t handle the tension inside themselves. Every escalation that doesn’t happen saves enforcement, courts and prison places.

What partners get back

For central government & municipalities

  • Data-driven prevention instead of reacting to incidents.
  • Cost savings over time through a structural reduction in pressure on healthcare and the justice system.
  • National coordination that prevents fragmentation.

For companies & employers

  • Higher psychological safety, more innovation, less toxic leadership.
  • Lower absenteeism by tackling the root cause of burnout in men.
  • Employer branding: younger generations choose organisations with genuine social responsibility.

Become a partner in the Alliance.

We are looking for organisations that do not talk about change but fund it and make it happen. Get in touch for an introduction.

Get in touch →

The EchtMannelijk Alliance is an initiative of The Nami Foundation (Stichting Nami). An application for ANBI status (the Dutch tax status for public benefit organisations) has been submitted. Until it is granted, donations are not tax-deductible.