Thursday, August 11, 2011

Men failing

A quick cut and paste from NCPA this morning. Written about the US but entirely relevant to the NZ situation.

As Girls Excel, What Happens to Boys?

Women today are entering adulthood with more education, more achievements, more property and, arguably, more money and ambition than their male counterparts. This is a first in human history, and its implications for both sexes are far from simple, says Kay Hymowitz, the William E. Simon Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

You can see the strongest evidence that boys and young men are falling behind in high school and college classrooms.

Boys have lower grade point averages and lower grades in almost every subject, including math, despite their higher standardized testing scores, and they are 58 percent of high school dropouts.
In the mid-1970s about 28 percent of men had college degrees; since then, that number has barely budged.
Meanwhile, the percentage of women with a college degree increased from 18.6 to 34.2 percent and women now earn 57 percent of college degrees.
Male earnings have come to reflect their educational disadvantage -- childless twentysomething men now earn 8 percent less than their female counterparts in 147 out of 150 of American cities.

So what explains this stunning shift between the sexes? The deepest roots of women's current success lie in economic and technological change.

In the early decades of the 20th century, a "household revolution" dramatically eased the domestic burdens primarily borne by women.
Women's release from household drudgery coincided with the emergence of the postindustrial labor market, meaning a growing number of service and knowledge-based jobs -- all areas where women have excelled.

The second and related theory about why men are falling behind is that today's labor market prizes female strengths more than male strengths.

Hymowitz adds a third, more existential explanation, for the male problem: The economic independence of women and the collapse of marriage norms have deprived men of the primary social role that incentivized their achievement. What this means is that boys today are growing up in a culture that, unlike any before in civilization, is agnostic about their future familial responsibilities.

Aside from school reforms that could help keep boys more engaged, the new gender gap has no obvious solutions. The profound economic changes that have led to female success and male stagnation have also transformed our culture and its expectations for men.

Source: Kay Hymowitz, "What's Happening to Men?" Cato Unbound, August 8, 2011.

For text:

http://www.cato-unbound.org/2011/08/08/kay-hymowitz/whats-happening-to-men/


I disagree that there are no obvious solutions. Mine would revolve around getting the state out of areas it shouldn't be. Reforming or discarding social policies that have interfered with the formation and endurance of relationships for instance. Some policies might have been justified as corrective (although foreseeing the unwanted consequences could also have acted as a brake) but they have now outlived their usefulness.

15 comments:

Bruce S said...

..and boys can see how their fathers have been disenfranchised by the state because a marriage has "broken down." Dad loses the house and the kids yet he has to pay for the "privilege" to see his own kids once in a while? Nope, boys aren't as dumb as they seem; they just don't see any incentives to warrant an early investment into a system that will ultimately deprive them of everything.

Anonymous said...

So woman are earning more? and having their first babies at 46yrs? And raising raising little boys with no concept of 'relationship'?
Am i impressed?

Anonymous said...

If a man is failing then a woman is failing too.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

"If a man is failing then a woman is failing too."

Agree wholeheartedly.

Anonymous said...

Bruce.Women also lose out financially in marriage breakups.The article said that many women are more educated and so forth.This includes owning houses.This presumption that men own houses and the woman takes it off them in the breakup is rather old fashioned.Also I dont believe that many women make a decision to breakup a family lightly.

Lucia Maria said...

Female promiscuity and easy online access to porn allows young men some level of sexual satisfaction without having to work to sustain a wife and family. There's a big part of the problem right there.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Anon, I don't think the blame for splitting a family can be generally apportioned one way or the other. Too many different circumstances. I did read some research from the US that found 70 percent of divorces were initiated by the female but again, she may or may not have been justified.

But while social policy may have assisted a genuine case (which I am not against as long as the assistance is a bridge) at the same time it appealed to another's weakness or exploitive tendencies..

James said...

Men have seen the truth and a new way of living free from domesticated slow death under the feminine high heel....and that way is Charlie Sheen. ;-)

In all seriousness I have lost count of male friends who warn me not to get married....their life spark gets drained from them with death looking more attractive every day...

Anonymous said...

Mine would revolve around getting the state out of areas it shouldn't be.

Starting with welfare, and rapidly moving on to education (and then health)

and with the state out of all these areas, I'm sure the figures will return to something much more like the West has known for the last 2000 years, and much less like Soviet Russia or Ba'athist Iraq.

Andrei said...

What planet are you from Anonymous?

The family has been targeted by militant feminism for over forty years.

The Dad, Mum, three kids and a dog thing is an absolute anathema to them and they have gradually succeeded in getting the wicked policies implemented.

Lindsay will possibly know the percentage of children in Fatherless households it is high very high and it is socially destructive as well as taking a huge toll on human fulfillment and happiness.

Bruce S said...

Hi Anonymous; I can assure you being tossed out on to the street at Xmas 2009 was no presumption nor indeed was it old fashioned. Perhaps I should have said "dad loses access to the family home which he paid for." It happened to me. In any event and as the article suggests; I have failed and I am now extremely happy about being out of the game. But I do miss my daughter.

Anonymous said...

Would this one parent family scenario have deep repercussions later on in the teenagers life? No respect for compromise? constant state of anxiety that the 'other' parent is 'wrong'? That anxiety being passed on to the caregivers charge?
What value system does the child have?
Is there any respect?

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Again very perceptive of you Merlene. Parents who make their relationships work - and sometimes it is work - do demonstrate valuable skills for all sorts of relationships that children will build over their lifetimes.

But also a parent who has characteristics that make them harder to live with may also genetically pass those on. State support after relationship breakdown absolves the parent from attempting to modify negative characteristics.

I had a lot of relationships before I met my husband. The endings of those prior relationships (sometimes a relief, at other times unhappy) made me look at myself and my expectations. I changed. I allowed the ideas in that I might sometimes be wrong, unreasonable, or stubborn. And to let stuff go.

So far, so good:-)

Anonymous said...

When we get to point we have a girlie ALL BLACKS then the amazon woman, trying to conquer all, has succeeded. You can see why Islam does,nt want a bar of western woman as overall to ruinous in their attempts in trying to be men.

Anonymous said...

How to take over a society. Get rid of religious structures. Cry for equality(which in reality means that,ll give me a chance to dominate) as very little ever stays at an equal status. Outcome is sexuality becomes a tool to gain advantage. End result to any society? A melee free for all, bad for child rearing and pitching the sexes agin one another, a rather twisted perverted order of things. Many old enough have seen this happen in NZ society since WW2.