Of Boys and Men is not a book about privileged men. It is about the majority of men and boys, particularly those affected by intersecting inequalities related to class and race. Reeves cites the 2020 American Family Survey finding that 41% of Americans are concerned about boys’ becoming successful adults compared to 33% about girls. This anxiety about boys lacks a productive public discourse and response, which Of Boys and Men aims to address in the contexts of education, the labor market, and family life.
In this review, I summarize Reeves’ arguments on shifting gender dynamics, highlight key evidence, and examine how the book challenges us to adopt an evidence-based approach to achieving social change. I conclude with my own reflections.
The evidence on boys and men
In 1972, when Title IX prohibited sex-based discrimination in education, men were 13 percentage points more likely than women to graduate from college. In 2019, the gender gap was 15 points, running in the other direction: women are now more likely to earn degrees (pg. 3). Women’s educational opportunity and achievement have transformed. In parallel, Reeves demonstrates, boys and men are struggling.
According to US Department of Education data, boys represent one-third of high school students in the top 10% of grade point averages and two-thirds of students in the bottom 10% (pg. 6-7). Colleges have lower graduation rates when they enroll more men, according to analysis from the Urban Institute and The New York Times. Reeves’ analysis of the same data confirmed that male students are more likely to drop out of college than any other group, including poor students, Black students, and foreign-born students. He reflects: “the educational underperformance of half the population is now a routine fact to social scientists, one to be added to the standard battery of statistical controls” (pg. 16).
The labor market does not offer a rosy picture for men, either. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, men’s labor force participation dropped 7% between 1970 and 2019. One-third of men with only a high school degree are now out of the labor force; that’s five million men (pg. 19). Earnings growth has stagnated for men, too. The 2015 Economic Report of the President reports that income gains for middle-class families since 1970 are all due to increases in women’s earning (pg. 29).
Reeves argues that without a gender lens, we miss the unique challenges faced by vulnerable boys and men: a vicious cycle of issues fueling, and caused by, inequality.
Compounded disadvantage for poor boys and men is reflected in evidence that childhood adversity causes worse consequences for boys than girls. Opportunity Insights analysis shows that boys raised in families in the bottom fifth of the income distribution are less likely to escape poverty as adults than girls (pg. 70). According to research from David Autor, boys’ educational outcomes are more affected by family background – including parents’ education and income – than girls’ (pg. 71).
The double disadvantage for Black boys and men is especially visible in economic indicators. Again citing Opportunity Insights, Reeves reports that employment rates for Black men raised in relatively affluent families are lower than those of white men raised in poverty. The same report found that the gap between intergenerational mobility for white and Black Americans, in terms of individual income, is entirely driven by differences in men’s, not women’s, outcomes (pg. 49-50). The impacts of these disadvantages are felt in families: according to research from the Economic Policy Institute, one in four Black children see a parent go to jail or prison before their 14th birthday, usually their father (pg. 55).
In one of the book’s most striking chapters, Reeves reports on the underperformance of education and workforce initiatives for male participants. He describes 13 such initiatives, including Kalamazoo Promise, a program where students receive free tuition to colleges in Michigan. Program evaluation showed that, while the number of women earning bachelor’s degrees increased by 45%, the program had no effect for men (pg. 73). Similarly, a Paycheck Plus pilot in New York City providing a $2000 wage bonus to childless adults succeeded in lifting employment rates for women, with no detectable effect for men (pg. 77). Across the board, researchers appear stumped as to why these, and many other, interventions are only effective for half of participants.
Why are boys and men struggling?
Throughout the book, Reeves argues that cultural views of masculinity have not kept up with social and economic change.
He cites “The Tenuous Attachments of Working-Class Men”, where sociologists Kathryn Edin et al describe how the erosion of frameworks for masculinity has resulted in lack of social integration and struggles to find meaning (pg. 67).
Reeves emphasizes the significance of the “provider” framework, drawing upon sociologist Geoff Dench’s argument that this role “integrates men into the interpersonal support structures, the chains of dependency, which lie at the core of…society” (pg. 33). Evidence for this role’s salience appears in the labor market: according to research from economists Ariel Binder and John Bound, men who do not see themselves as providers actually work less (pg. 38).
The male provider role is fading. More than ever before, women are breadwinners (41% of US households) or outearn their husbands (30% of married women) (pg. 35). There are other forces at play, too: economic shifts have eroded traditionally male professions, a trend expected to continue due to greater automation exposure (pg. 21). Middle-class jobs with growing demand, in the service sector, are dominated by women. Women have made gains in traditionally male-dominated fields, but as Reeves observes, “the gender desegregation of the labor market has been almost entirely one way” (pg. 151).
Despite these shifts, data from Pew Research Center shows, Americans still value the concept of the male provider: 81% of adults with a high school education or less agreed that “for a man to be a good husband or partner, being able to support a family financially is very important.” Only 62% of those with a bachelor’s degree agreed. This finding points to an important socio-economic difference: while men with greater educational attainment face less pressure to provide, they are also more likely to be able to achieve that status. Reeves observes: “Life is very different for men with waning wages and truncated job prospects. Equality is easier for the affluent” (pg. 66).
Progress for women, Reeves argues, “has not caused the precariousness of the male social identity, but it has exposed it” (pg. 37). As existing frameworks for masculinity become less relevant, we don’t have a clear replacement.
What about the gender divide you expected?
For example, he discusses the pay gap in some detail, citing researchers including Nobel Laureate Claudia Goldin to emphasize the impact of parenthood on women’s earnings (pg. 28). Without suggesting we turn away from these persistent issues, he encourages us to calibrate our understanding of inequality with the evidence: “Focusing too narrowly on the remaining barriers facing women can distract attention from the much deeper class divides that have opened up in our society” (pg. 61). The evidence indicates that we cannot tackle inequality without uplifting boys and men. Reeves invites us to champion progress for girls and women and offer compassion and support to vulnerable boys and men.
What can we do about it?
A self-professed policy wonk, Reeves offers three practical solutions closely linked to the evidence. Starting boys in school a year later than girls, he advises, would improve outcomes by accounting for different developmental timelines. He recommends family policies supporting fathers’ role as caregivers, one of which – paid leave for fathers – would also help combat the gender pay gap. He also espouses investment in programs supporting men in health, education, administration, and literacy (HEAL) careers. Channeling men into HEAL professions would address growing demand for labor and the need for gender match between providers and users.
Challenging narratives: My reflections
Refocusing in this way can be awkward, because the inequality at hand doesn’t easily fit into the way we typically think about gender – especially through the lens of social justice.
For much of American history, women were systematically barred from higher education and paid work; these and other sexist barriers still exist elsewhere. In the US, women continue to face headwinds of discrimination and disadvantage. These issues resonate in a way that recent patterns of male disengagement and underachievement do not. Further, it is discouraging to consider that while women have fought to transform their roles in our society, economy, and families, we have not seen a comparable effort on the part of men.
But regardless of whether we find it inspiring, the problem remains. The social and economic unmooring of a large demographic group is detrimental to progress generally, beyond just the goal of gender equality.
Reeves’ proposed solutions illuminate important directions for progress. Supporting educational attainment, employment, and involved parenting for men would chip away at underlying problems. Nonetheless, I could not help but wonder whether these solutions are enough to combat deeper social and cultural forces.
I found the book’s broader contribution more noteworthy: a well-paced guide to the evidence about a complex problem, even including lessons in data literacy; a balanced and compassionate explanation for root causes; and directions for change. As Reeves argues, the politicization of this topic has obscured the path forward. The book aims to use evidence to neutralize charged topics and open the door to solutions.
Lastly, I found myself wondering if Reeves expected the book to receive a more controversial reception than it has. In the interview that first introduced me to his work, he admits to having similar objections to those above. But the project appears to have been successful. Especially in this moment in American political conversation, Reeves picked up on a set of problems and concerns that readers experience or observe, but for which we have lacked a shared understanding and productive discourse. As he observed in the book, “women’s lives have been recast. Men’s have not,” (pg. 184).
