Do gender equality policies address men’s issues?

The Polish Minister for equality, Katarzyna Kotula, has announced that boys’ and men’s rights and disadvantages will be among the priorities of the next presidency trio of the Council of the European Union, formed by Poland, Denmark, and Cyprus. This may sound surprising. For some, because they see men as a privileged group who does not need help. For others, because they see feminist politicians and the European Union as unaware of men’s gendered problems.

What gendered problems do men have? Men in the EU have much worse education outcomes and die early. The problems origin in childhood: the international PISA tests show that boys have lower skills in reading in all 81 countries under study. In most countries, they do not have substantial advantage in science and mathematics. In some countries, like Finland, girls perform much better in standardised tests in all the three fields (reading, science, and mathematics). These differences are associated with the choice of school track and occupation. Among young adults (25-34 years old), 48.8% women and only 37.6% men in the EU have a tertiary degree (Eurostat). This gap has been consistently growing over the last decades (Gulczyński 2021). Men are also more exposed to occupational risk and die earlier than women. At least in a large part, it is not a natural phenomenon: the gender gap in life expectancy varies from less than three years in the Netherlands to 10 years in Latvia (Eurostat).

In some countries, men do not even have equal rights. For example, the retirement age in Poland is 60 for women and 65 for men. There is also an empathy gender gap, which has consequences for adopted policies: the society sees men as less innocent ‘imperfect victims’ (Kreft and Agerberg 2023) and politicians often portray male refugees as a threat (Welfens and Bonjour 2020). The thinking that the duty to defend the country lies on men is still widespread. Recently, Latvia reintroduced obligatory military service, but only for men. When Ukrainian men are not allowed to leave the country and a former President of the European Councils says we are living in a “pre-war era,” this inequality in rights gains in relevance.

The gaps in gender policies towards men

So, have not these issues been included in gender equality policies so far? My answer has just appeared in the Journal of European Social Policy. I analysed all EU multiannual gender equality strategies and annual reports since the 1980s. They started in the 1980s with women’s empowerment goals, such as increasing women’s labour market activity and opportunities. They gradually developed to include more goals, such as women’s equal participation in political power, improving women’s health, reducing occupational segregation, and tackling gender-based violence.

In fact, boys’ and men’s disadvantages in education and occupational health were included in the EU multiannual gender equality strategies in 2005 and 2010. But since 2015, they were neglected again. When the strategies discuss inequalities in education, they do not address boys’ and men’s disadvantages in reading, educational attainment, or Erasmus+ participation. A recent annual report on gender equality issued by the European Commission referred to girls 40 times without mentioning boys even once. Another report mentioned boys only as “positive agents of change.” Thus, the authors did not try to address boys’ problems, but expected boys to act in desired ways.

In the paper, I show that in the last decade, men (and boys) have been treated as ‘problem solvers’– those who can contribute to gender equality. But not as ‘problem holders’ – those who can legitimately expect their problems to be addressed by gender equality policies. So, the current approach of the EU again resembles more ‘women’s empowerment’ than a ‘gender perspective.’ In this way, ‘gender mainstreaming’ and ‘gender equality’ are incomplete and do not fulfil the initial promises.

This way of thinking has simultaneously emerged in other literature streams. Similar arguments have been raised by Weiner (2023) who analysed the same documents with a more feminist lens. In another recent paper, Murray (2024) notes that even though men are almost always more numerous in positions of power than women, the interests of most men may not be well represented. The men in power are simply not like most men who often work physically, do not get tertiary education, and die much earlier than women (and educated men). Unfortunately, the European Commission does not apply the intersectional approach to men of underprivileged backgrounds. Instead of realising that some –if not most– men may be disadvantaged by their gender in some aspects of life, it treats men as uniformly privileged. This also applies to boys who are expected to contribute to the social change, but their educational disadvantages are not being addressed.

What should a new EU gender equality strategy include?

The Commission is now starting the preparation of the new gender equality strategy, for the years 2026-2030. It is an opportunity to fulfil the promise of gender equality and gender mainstreaming. As Booth and Bennett wrote already in 2002, gender equality policies should recognise that “men are not the deliberate oppressors of women, but can also be disempowered by current social arrangements.” This is important not only for the benefit of men, but also for the legitimacy of gender equality policies, which have been facing a backlash in the recent years.

What should the new strategy and presidency trio take into account? First, men should participate in the making of gender equality policies. Not because they know better which policies might work, but because some problems and perspectives may remain overlooked if the policymaking body is not representative. There are experts and activists who work on these issues and in no way question women’s problems, so it is not difficult to find partners for egalitarian policymaking.

Second, policymakers should see at least some men as a group whose issues may be tackled with gender equality policies. The recent strategies and reports produced by the European Commission tackle problems with men, such as gender-based violence or insufficient involvement of men in childcare, but not do not address men’s problems.

Tags: Gender equality, Policy, Men