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Masculine and feminine roles are not biologically fixed but socially constructed.”– philosopher, scholar and author Judith Butler
Are men really suffering through a crisis of identity? They are, if you only talk to men about it.
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The Macro
I have been trying to get my mind around the so-called crisis of masculine identity, the study and debate about whether men have lost their sense of purpose. Intellectually, I find the whole idea fallacious, for reasons I will describe below. But my skepticism starts and ends with two seminal characteristics of my life.
My mother, Muriel, was a living, breathing symbol of what it’s like to be a woman in Canada. Discouraged by her father from seeking higher education, she was married and had children at a very young age. Divorced while she was still a young woman, my mother went back to work and was paid less than men until she finally attended university in her 40s and got a job as a parole officer.
She was subjected to constant sexual harassment, some of which was inflicted on her with her children as witnesses. In a relationship she started after her divorce, she became a victim of intimate partner violence and suffered from depression for most of her advanced years.
When various pundits, academics, authors and influencers begin talking about the crisis of male identity, it would be easy for me to draw upon my mother’s experiences and tell them that “karma’s a bitch.” But the fact is, the current backlash against things like diversity, equity and inclusion is convincing me that karma is also a motivation for retribution.
Which brings me to the second seminal feature of my life: I am blessed to be father to both a boy and a girl, now a young man and young woman. As a parent, I am constantly contending with fear and anxiety about what will happen to both of them in a world that is much different now than it was when I was their age.
Based on my mother’s experience and a wealth of data showing this world we live in is still, for all intents and purposes, a man’s world, I probably fear more for my daughter than my son. But that doesn’t mean I don’t fear for both of them.
Which brings me back to the crisis of masculinity. I do believe that some men may be wondering how or if they fit into the current world. I do not believe that is because men are inherently at any disadvantage.
Men continue to make more than women for work of equal value. The most recent pay equity numbers show in 2024, Canadian women earned about 87 per cent of what men were being paid for equal work. And women continue to be largely kept out of the most senior roles in the workforce; only five per cent of all publicly traded companies in Canada have a female chief executive. And 27 per cent of publicly traded companies in 2025 had no female executives, up one point from the year previous.
Outside of work, women continue to live a life where violence at the hands of a partner is much more likely. The most recent statistics on intimate partner violence show nearly 80 per cent of all police reported intimate partner violence features a female victim.
Okay, are young men in a crisis? The masculinity crisis advocates point consistently to two data points: first, that more women are attending and graduating from post-secondary education; and that more young men are suffering from suicidal ideation, mental health issues and substance abuse.
In Canada, 40 per cent of women have a bachelor’s degree or better, while only 26 per cent of men can claim the same level of educational attainment. And currently, women make up 58 per cent of post-secondary enrollment, and 60 per cent of graduate programs.
There are a variety of explanations for this trend, which is evident in many developed countries. But it seems like a gargantuan leap to say that this trend is somehow caused by, or indicative of, a crisis in male identity. In fact, some have argued that over-representation and over-achievement in academics is masking the fact that women are struggling as much or more than men in many of the same metrics used to describe the crisis of male identity.
Which brings us to the second batch of data points: those suggesting more men are thinking about self-harm and suffering mental health and addictions issues. In a marvellous article in The Atlantic, staff writer Faith Hill does a good job at deconstructing the fallacy around the male-identity crisis.
She notes, as just one example, that while suicidal ideation, mental illness and substance abuse are rising among young men, they are still largely below what is experienced by women. All the noise around the male identity crisis, Hill argues, is very much diverting attention away from that reality.
“What young women are going through, then, is an identity crisis. It’s also a mental-health crisis. But it’s not typically recognized as any kind of crisis at all, perhaps because it’s a quieter one: This population, overall, may not be happy, but it’s a high-functioning one and therefore easier to ignore.”
As the father of both a young man and a young woman, where does that leave me?
I think we need to be worried about our children for a variety of reasons. There are more existential threats facing younger generations than ever before.
However, when it comes to the question of which gender is more at risk, I choose to occupy somewhat neutral ground. Which means I want the best, and sometimes fear the worst, for both of my brilliant children.
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