Is the first American boys and men commission on the horizon?
Is the first American boys and men commission on the horizon?
I hope so. Norway has one, after all.
I have just published a piece over at Brookings, “The case for A Commission on Boys and Men: Will Washington state lead the way?”.
Here’s the basic message:
Many boys and men are struggling. There is a strong case for government institutions that focus on the issues that are disproportionately impacting boys and men, and which can be usefully considered through a gender-specific lens. One attractive option is to create Commissions on Boys and Men, at the federal, state and local levels. These would complement the ones that already exist in most states and many cities to work on issues related to women and girls.
Currently, there are no governmental Commissions working on behalf of boys and men in any U.S. states. But a bill just filed in Washington state would create the first one. This could set an important precedent.
My guess is that if you’re reading this, you may not as much persuading as some that there are issues facing boys and men that warrant attention through a specifically male lens. I summarize many of the headline stats in the Brookings piece.
If you still need persuading, I’d naturally recommend my book Of Boys and Men, or if you’re more of a 15-minute video kind of person this new offering from myself and the terrific team at Big Think:
The bill to create a Commission on Boys and Men in Washington state, has, importantly, impressively bipartisan sponsorship':
The new Commission would be “tasked with addressing the well-being of Washington’s boys, male youth, and men”. I was happy to see that the Bill also proposes that the new commission be “tasked with developing strategies to encourage men and male youth to consider careers in teaching, mental health care, social work, nursing, and other professions where the workforce severely lacks male participation.” (See my previous post, “Men Can HEAL”).
Mirroring Commissions for Women
As I write in the Brookings piece:
It is not necessary to start from scratch. Good models for any potential Commission on Boys and Men are provided by the existing ones for women and girls. That includes the Washington state Women’s Commission, which was created in 2018 to “address issues relevant to the problems and needs of women, such as domestic violence, childcare and support, sexual discrimination and harassment in the workplace, equal compensation and job pathways in employment, and the specific needs of women of color.”
There are similar Commissions for women and girls in most other states. Out of the 50 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia, 39 currently have a statutory body focused on women’s issues. . .
Any new Commissions working for boys and men will likely work closely with the existing ones for women and girls on a number of fronts, not least family policy. The two commissions should be seen as complementary counterparts, not competitors.
If Norway Can Do It. . .
The message that boys and men are struggling, and that policymakers should start to to tackle their problems more seriously, seems to be sinking in around the world. Take Norway, which is ranked as one of the most gender-equal countries in the world, but where boys and men are lagging on lots of front including education.
In August of 2022, the Norwegian government launched a Commission on Men (Mannsutvalget), with 17 members, a trade union leader in the chair, a clear mandate to address the following issues —“family, education, working life, leisure, health, violence and sexual harassment, integration and old age” — and a deadline of Spring 2024 to issue a report.
Launching the Commission, the Norwegian Culture and Equality Minister, Anette Trettebergstuen, said:
Major changes have taken place in the past decades, and it is high time to put boys' and men's challenges on the agenda.
Amen, Ms. Trettebergstuen. Let’s hope the legislators in Washington State has a similarly enlightened attitude.
ps. I’m heading out to Seattle and Olympia next week for various meetings and events - I’ll report back shortly thereafter.
Unless you understand the real and by far the biggest reason for the gender gap, all suggestions for a solution will amount to nothing. You can't fix this by treating symptoms. You've got to address the root cause. Once you understand the real reason for the gender gap, all the pieces fall into place, and it becomes clear. Here's a hint: There is another gender gap in young children.
Looks like the WA proposal has 5 women and 2 men supporting it ... which is interesting.
Perhaps continuing to use the progress over the past 50+ yrs for women and girls as a measure isn't the most productive approach.
Feels to me like the actual issues and crises facing boys and men need to be viewed through a different lens and created in different ways. The women's movement came from enhancing women's natural strengths. Mirroring that may not be as successful for boys and men.
Figuring out how to use the naturally constructive strengths of boys and men might yield more productive results. And it might also take another half century of focused effort to bring the social, then political, economic and other changes needed to evolve.