Redefining Masculinity to Rescue Working-Class Men - Building Gender Balanced Business

• The worst of the financial crisis may be behind us, but the so-called he-cession drags on, with men not only losing the bulk of jobs in many developed countries but also falling behind in the skills that can help them recover jobs.

• In industry, men still gravitate to declining sectors like manufacturing while women predominate in the less scathed services sector. In education, women are outpacing men, with 185 US women obtaining a college degree by age 22 for every 100 men.

• David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, worries that these factors point up “America’s social weak spots. For decades, men have adapted poorly to the shifting demands of the service economy. Now they are paying the price. For decades, the working-class social fabric has been fraying. Now the working class is in danger of descending into underclass-style dysfunction.”

• Alarmist? Brooks reports that as of November 2009, nearly one in five US men age 25 to 54 was not working, a record high for the country.

• Further, young men are at particular risk: He notes that young people who enter the job market during a recession not only have a harder time getting a good job but can earn significantly less for much of their careers as their initial wages dog them relative to the pay of people who entered during boom times.

• The solution: “[W]e need to redefine masculinity, creating an image that encourages teenage boys to stay in school and older men to pursue service jobs. Evangelical churches have done a lot to show how manly men can still be nurturing. Obviously, more needs to be done, and schools need to be more boy-friendly. … Somehow there must be a way to use the country’s idle talent to address freshly exposed needs.”

David Brooks’ commentary