LOST BOYS

We have to agree the problem, before we can solve it!

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We should never seek to pit men and boys against women and girls. We are both equally important and valuable and as such, neither gender should be unfairly held back in society.

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While the world continues to view all men and boys through the lens of historical privilege, most men and boys in the UK now face a unique set of challenges and a declined sense of purpose. In contemporary British discourse and policy making, male disenfranchisement and social alienation has surfaced as a complex interplay of dominating feminist ideology throughout society, shifting socio-economic structures in a post-industrial economy and confusing cultural expectations. As society is redefined across the board by single focused feminist notions, a significant portion of the male population reports feeling alienated from mainstream legal, political, social and cultural narratives and considerations, highlighting that the path toward true gender equity requires a nuanced understanding of the specific issues currently affecting men.

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In the feminist push for systemic change, the focus on dismantling "the patriarchy" has manifest as a broad scepticism toward men, boys and masculinity itself, causing many—particularly those from working-class backgrounds—to be demonised and culturally sidelined. This shift has created an environment where men and boys feel their specific struggles are dismissed as secondary or ignored entirely in favour of a dominating narrative that labels them solely as a group of privileged misogynistic oppressors.

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This direction has led to serious bias and inequalities throughout society, and specifically in the areas of justice, education, healthcare, government policy, employment and none government organisation support.

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Some of the many inequalities in these areas are;

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• Criminal Justice - Men receive on average almost twice the custodial sentence length when compared to women. Despite men being around 80% of the victim pool for violent crime, the focus of the justice system continues to be on violence against women and girls. 2024 sentencing guidelines and the Female Offender Strategy emphasize managing women in the community where possible. Women are 28% less likely than men to be sentenced to immediate custody for the same type of indictable offence

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• Family Court - Overwhelming feedback and reports from men involved in family court proceedings raises serious questions about bias in favour of women. Men face higher barriers to legal aid, often due to not meeting the financial means test or not being deemed victims of abuse. There exists a perverse incentive for women to falsely accuse men of domestic violence to qualify for legal aid. Yet the only significant stated intention of improving family courts comes form the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, which is highly likely to worsen the situation.

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• Education - Girls outperform boys at Key Stage 2 and at GCSE level, a trend that has persisted for decades. Women are more likely to go to university and complete their studies. Boys are more than twice as likely to be excluded from school than girls. Boys are significantly more likely to be identified with special educational needs. By age five, girls are significantly more likely to reach a "good level of development". Female influence dominates education with 76% of all teachers being women and around 24% of state-funded schools in England having no male teachers, and 47% having no males in the senior leadership team.

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• Healthcare – Despite males having shorter overall life expectancy and being twice as likely to suffer early death due to ill health, women and girls receive 62% of overall public health spending. Men and boy’s suicide completion rates are 3 times as high as women and girl's. 82% of the UK’s mental health workforce is female. There are several sources explaining how the mental health therapy system was created around the needs and expectations of women, yet the official campaign messages and resources have only ever focused on encouraging men and boys to change their attitudes, behaviours and needs to enable them to engage with a system that was not designed for them.

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• Government Policy & Action – As of 2024, the UK government has an Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, and a Minister for Women and Equalities, no such positions exist to support men and boys, despite campaigning and some cross party agreement. Since 2000, the UK parliament has introduced at least 8 pieces of legislation with the intention of increasing protection for women and girls, and 1 for the protection of men and boys. The UK government has a strategy for violence against women and girls (VAWG), yet not for men and boys who are 80% of the victim pool for violent crime. The government has committed/spent £877m for public initiatives and support for women and girls, yet only £7.8m for men and boys.

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• Employment - Surveys indicate that a significant number of male workers in the UK believe they have been overlooked for promotion or faced unfair treatment due to their gender, with over 8 million UK employees feeling they have experienced gender discrimination. There has been a significant and rising proportion of employment tribunal claims initiated by men in relation to workplace culture or diversity initiatives, including sex discrimination. 2024/25 data showed that in the Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) industries, 49% of job offers went to women despite them making up only 37% of the total applicant pool. Countless initiatives exist to encourage women and girls into historically male dominated professions, while not even close to a reciprocal drive exists for encouraging men and boys into historically female dominated professions.

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• NGO Support - Despite making up 42% of people who will be victims of domestic violence in their lifetime, only 3% of refuge spaces are dedicated to men - most areas of the UK have 0 spaces for men. Whilst there are 7,400 charities dedicated to supporting women and girls, there are only 120 dedicated to supporting men and boys.

 

By far the most telling and destructive sign of this environment is a profound mental health crisis among men in the UK. As the traditional, healthy and positive archetypes of masculinity have been deconstructed, many men continue to experience a crisis of purpose and self-worth and a reluctance to seek help, as they overwhelmingly see their struggles being viewed through a lens of "toxic masculinity", misogyny and privilege. This environment of alienation contributes to staggering statistics; suicide remains the leading cause of death for men under 50 in the UK, reflecting a deep-seated sense of isolation and a failure of current social frameworks to address the specific needs of the male population.

 

 

Sources: Office for National Statistics, GOV.UK, House of Commons Library, NHS Confederation, British Psychological Society, ChildLawAdvice.org.uk, HR Inform, ManKind