Why do men’s sheds work
in diverse communities?
Professor Barry Golding
University of Ballarat,
Australian Men’s Sheds Association Patron
b.golding@ballarat.edu.au
Discovering Men’s Sheds Conference
Leicester, England 29 Sept 2011
NIACE, Age UK, Men’s Health Forum & University of Leicester
How come sheds were invented in
Australia? Given that:
 “Australia is by far the driest, smallest,
flattest, most infertile, climatically most
unpredictable, and biologically most
impoverished continent and the last to be
occupied by Europeans”, and
 “… had supported the most distinctive
human societies and the least numerous
human population, of any continent.”
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Diamond (2005) Guns, germs and steel.
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Community men’s sheds are culturally iconic in
some nations, springing & spreading in the past 15
years in Australia from:
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Backyard, house & garden sheds
Fire brigade, football and rugby sheds
Woodworker’s/turner’s workshops
Vietnam & War Veterans organisations
Places & organisations where workers want to keep trade skills,
traditions, tools & engines alive.
Ideas in media & popular texts.
Men’s health, learning & wellbeing workers, researchers,
activists & gerontologists (Leon Earle).
Shed ‘pioneers’ & innovators in all states
Men’s sheds, State and national Associations (AMSA)
There are now over 600 community men’s sheds across
Australia, doubling every two years for the past decade!
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In the past four years men’s
sheds have spread rapidly in
Several other Anglophone nations:
 New Zealand (35?)
 Ireland (35?)
 England (50?)
 Canada (2?)
 Will they adapt, diversity and spread in
other non-Anglophone nations?
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What are community men’s sheds, as
developed in Australia since 1995?
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Now the largest community association in Australia focused on
the needs, health, wellbeing & interests of men.
A new ‘movement’ of shed-based community organisations,
mainly for and by men.
Providing a safe, regular, social space, for informal, voluntary
activity & programs with many other possibilities & outcomes.
Unlike ‘backyard’ sheds, available to groups of men,
independently organised or in auspice arrangements through
other community organisations.
Usually (but not always) with a group workshop space, tools
and equipment a public, shed-type setting
As diverse as the men and communities they spring from.
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First, a restating of the important basics:
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Sheds work because they are attractive places for
men to gather socially, regularly, voluntarily, happily,
safely and do hands-on stuff together.
 They work best when it’s grassroots, local, by, for
and about the local men and the community.
 Shedders are active and equal participants: not
students, patients, clients or customers.
 They should be inclusive and welcoming of all men.
 They are not patronizing and do not see men as
having ‘a deficit’ or being the problem.
 Not naming the shed activity provides freedom to do
& talk about important other stuff (including health).
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 The outcomes are typically diverse and powerful.
What do ‘professionals’ see in a shed? A place for:
men’s health (health worker)
 masculinities (gender academic)
 learning (educator)
 counseling about behaviour (psychologist)
 retiring and ageing (a gerontologist)
 doing stuff (occupational therapist)
 men to get out of the house (a sociologist)
 social engagement & connection (community services)
 tackling substance abuse (drug worker)
 research (academic)
 wooing votes (politicians)
 Men’s lives (and needs) beyond paid work are
diverse & do not fit into one, neat, academic box. 7
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Sheds work for (and are supported by some
governments & professionals) because they:
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attract men who are otherwise missing (who
won’t access services that patronize them)
provide places to embed programs and meet
men, ‘at home’, on their terms
operate and are responsive to diverse men’s
diverse needs at a local level.
tick all of the Social Determinants of Health
provide some services free, cheaper or more
effectively than govt (This one needs watching …)
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Men’s sheds have tended to thrive in:
Post-industrial suburban areas
 Rural and regional areas (where farmers have
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moved to town or where ex-tradesmen are concentrated)
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Areas hit by crisis & change (with fire, drought,
flood and lower socio-economic status)
Areas where the proportion of men
‘beyond paid work (unemployed, out of the workforce,
retired) is higher than average.
 These are the areas and men service
providers and governments have difficulty
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reaching.
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Men’s sheds must be for all men
An important reflection on four men who
have suggested otherwise …
 Racism, homophobia, discrimination on
the basis of religion or disability is not
acceptable in sport (and is unlawful).
 A brief reflection on the role and status
of women …
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Women have actively assisted the spread
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Men with female partners typically participate with
their strong support (& encouragement).
 Women have played major roles in developing &
championing many sheds, the movement, plus
national & state associations.
 Almost all major media stories about sheds have
been researched and reported by women.
 Women have been behind many shed start ups &
the procurement of funds.
 Some sheds have a female coordinator.
 Some sheds make a local decision to include some
women as participants.
 Men sometimes shift the stuff they don’t want to
deal with to women (eg paperwork, budgeting, accountability).
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Other groups of men gather in:
most nations, around sport &
emergency service organisations
 Samoa, around the kava bowl
 Scandinavia, around fishing & hunting
 Portugal, around pigeon racing
 Mediterranean counties, around coffee
 Maldives, where fishing nets are fixed.
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‘Sheds’ won’t be needed everywhere, in
all nations or for all men, but some of the
same principles are transferable.
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Learning through the national Australian
(and State) conferences
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1st National Men’s Shed Conference 2005,
Lakes
Entrance, Victoria, organized by Gary Green & Orbost Men’s Shed.
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2nd National Conference Manly NSW, Sept 2007, organized
by Lane Cove Men’s Shed & Uniting Church (also Tasmania)
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3rd National Conference Hobart, Tasmania: Aug 2009
Organized by AMSA with Pete’s Shed, Bridgewater (also in Western Australia)
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4th National Conference Brisbane, Queensland, Aug 2011,
organized by AMSA & QMSA, at which the International Confederation of
Men’s Sheds Associations was first convened (also in New South Wales,
Victoria & South Australia)
Leicester ‘Discovering Men’s Sheds’ 29 Sept 2011
 5th Conference Melbourne AMSA & VMSA, 2013.
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In Australia, learning about sheds is through:
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diverse community-based organisations that
auspice sheds & service providers
 AMSA & state men’s shed associations
 State Govt Support mainly in Victoria: other states in
Australia are likely to follow suit - once more evidence is there of hard
outcomes & ‘throughput’ (a double-edged sword …)
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Federal Govt support of AMSA
 Non-Government Organisations
(eg Rotary,
Veterans, Aged-Care, Uniting Care, Catholic Church, Salvation Army)
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Govt Programs (eg
Department of Veterans Affairs, Adult &
Community Education; Indigenous; Health & Wellbeing, Local Govt).
 Shed Forums & Shed Crawls (eg Ballarat 2011)
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What do men learn in sheds?
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Hands-on skills through practical, productive
activity.
The positive value of leisure activity &
friendships with other men.
Importance of health, fitness, relationships,
identities as men & emotional wellbeing.
Coping with changes associated with
unemployment, separation, ageing, disability &
retirement.
To develop, share & enjoy lives & identities
beyond work & home.
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Why do sheds work? #1
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They positively accommodate men with an
aversion to formal education.
 They encourage mentoring & sharing of
leisure, trade, technical, craft, health & safety
skills.
 They match the specific learning needs of the
men that use them & make men ‘feel at
home’ and valuable.
 The focus is on the needs of men as joint
participants in the activity.
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Shed-type settings work #2 because they
provide opportunities for:
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active participation & situated, informal learning in
communities of (men’s) practice
safe, positive, therapeutic & male-positive contexts
where men feel ‘at home’.
a voluntary social & community outlet for diverse,
mainly older men.
opportunities for sharing & mentoring
opportunities for informally learning how to stay well,
fit & healthy
new types of collaboration, therefore
building better communities.
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Men learn new ways to:
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break social isolation & ‘underfoot syndrome’
regularly share workshop-based, hands-on,
trade skills with men & sometimes boys
give back to their communities
model positive and diverse ways of being a
man (particularly beyond work)
regularly participate & socialise in
community settings with other men
learn, that does not involve shame.
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Shed practice informs educators by identifying
factors that ‘put men off’ formal learning & keep
them unwell & out of work:
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previous negative experiences of schooling
a dislike of formal learning & literacies
limited access to education, training &
services that match men’s preferred ways of
learning
limited access to computers & internet
age discrimination in employment & training
sickness, disability, caring & family roles.
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‘Shoulder to shoulder’ activity is:
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enjoyable, hands-on & practical.
 doing real tasks, of real & transferable benefit
(to individual, group, family, business or community).
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sometimes outside.
 about informal mentoring in groups rather
than teaching.
 in places where men already feel ‘at home’,
sometimes with other men.
 sometimes (but not always) in a community
shed.
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Men’s shed fundamentals
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It has to be voluntary, safe, social and mainly
hands-on, for all men & the community.
Men who participate in sheds are not clients,
customers, patients or students.
It is not from a deficit or ageist model.
If learning or health are to be introduced it
has to be on men’s terms, at their invitation &
involving pedagogies which work for men.
While women are sometimes involved in
some way, the shed practice works best if it’s
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solely or mainly for & by men.
For men (and all adults)…
When will governments learn the social
(& economic) value of grassroots
wellbeing through community
organisations rather than just measuring
the cost?
 How can other services be transformed
in similar way ways that value
participants over clients?
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