Why Men and Boys are Struggling

This is a bit of a touchy subject, but one that is important to discuss, especially considering the disastrous results of the recent U.S. election. Media analysis show On The Media reran an episode of theirs entitled ‘Why Men and Boys are Struggling‘, which features an interview between host Micah Loewinger and author Richard Reeves:

Micah Loewinger: You write about how many advised you against writing this book. I also want to acknowledge the cognitive dissonance of the thesis and the book that some listeners might identify, which is that men and boys are struggling at a time when men still very much run our society. There are many ways you could quantify this. There are three times as many men in Congress than women, less than 10% of the Fortune 500 companies are run by women, and casual misogyny is pervasive throughout our culture.

Richard Reeves: The way you ask the question depends on where you look. If you look at the apex of our society, it’s absolutely true that there’s still a long way to go. I would say, especially in the US in terms of female representation in politics, for example, and in boardrooms and in other areas of society.

If we look further down, then we see a very, very different picture. For working-class men, for black boys and men, those with less economic power, there’s a very different story. It can simultaneously be true that men at the top of the distribution are doing better on many fronts, including in terms of earnings. It can also be true that most American men are earning less today than most American men did in 1979. This is very much a class and a race story.

In 1972 when Title IX was passed to support women and girls in education, men were about 13 percentage points more likely to get a four-year college degree. Today, women are 15 percentage points more likely than men to get a four-year college degree. There’s been this huge overtaking in education. We also see that in high school, where girls account for 2/3 of the top 10% of students ranked by GPA

Much like the Democrats running their recent presidential campaign on the premise that “the economy is doing great”, while ignoring the fact that most of the middle class is struggling with housing and food costs, I think these issues are important to at least address.

Listen to the whole episode →


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