In the wake of the #MeToo Movement and the empowerment of women over the decades, it appears that the value and esteem of males are diminishing. Young women under 30 in 147 U.S. cities now out-earn our boys. Single young women are buying homes at the rate of two and a half times the rate of single men. In one generation, young men have gone from 61 percent of college-educated to a projection of 39 percent. It’s the opposite for young women. Today young men between 25 and 31 are 66 percent more likely than their female counterparts to be living with their parents. Between the age of 10 and 14 boys commit suicide at almost twice the rate of girls, boys between the age of 15-19 commit suicide at four times the rate of girls. The U.S. jail and prison population increased by more than 700 percent between 1973-2013; 93 percent are male and disproportionately young.
Why?
In the ’70s, more and more women entered the workplace, and there began to be a significant rise in the divorce rate. Many children were living primarily with their moms. The courts rarely awarded primary custody to dads because he was seen as the breadwinner, and women were seen as the caregiver. By the early 2000s research began to surface, pointing to “Dad Deprivation” as a leading contributor to social, psychological, academic, and physical health problems for boys and girls. But most recently, research is showing that Dad deprivation for boys has an even more detrimental effect and is longer lasting than for girls. Warren Farrell, the author of The Boy Crisis, credits it to a compounded effect of dad deprivation and a “purpose void.” “Men are the role models who either offer our boys structure and inspiration or leave them rudderless and depressed.” There are always exceptions to the rules, but boys tend to become what they see in the men around them or what they don’t see.
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Contact Lisa at LisaMay@livethelife.org
Lisa May is the Executive Director of South Florida for Live the Life South. Live the Life exists to strengthen marriages and families through healthy relationship education beginning in middle school through senior adults. For information visit LivetheLifesoflo.org