As we celebrate Father’s Day on June 16, it’s time for a renewed call to help men flourish in modern-day America. It’s well past time to begin addressing what has emerged as a deep problem in the United States: Aimless, lonely, detached men. The challenge is most deeply experienced in poor, low-income, and working-class communities.
Consider that 6 million prime-age, able-bodied men between the ages of 25 and 54 are absent from the labor force – even in today’s economy with such low unemployment rates last seen in the 1960s. Even many men who are working are underemployed or in low-skill jobs. In 2021, for example, approximately 6.6% of unrelated individuals in the labor force for 27 weeks or more – many of whom are from working-class communities – were classified as working poor, meaning their incomes fell below the official poverty level despite their work efforts.
Men are more likely to be incarcerated, more likely to be the victim of a violent crime, more likely to be homeless, more likely to be drug and alcohol addicted (and overdose), and more likely to commit suicide. The reality is that a select few men at the top are doing exceptionally well, but a large swath of American men are struggling significantly.
What are we to make of this reality? It’s in vogue right now to bash men as failures. We too often respond with condemnation rather than solutions. But this Father’s Day, we need a campaign to help come alongside men and help them become better.
The question is not whether there will be fathers in the world, but what kind of fathers there will be. We need to call men back to purpose. Right now, too many men are mired in addictions, but the way forward is to get out of themselves into a broader mission and sense of life purpose.
We need to bolster men in America through two key ways forward: Helping men who are detached from the workforce reintegrate into the meaning and purpose found in work, and help these same men reconnect with positive relationships, principally through family life.
On the work front, we know that gainful employment is tied to a host of positives. The most obvious one is income, but work also improves personal well-being and mental health, reduced instances of alcohol and substance abuse, improved family relationships, and reduced crime rates.
For young men, the way forward is by creating more vocational education options, getting more male role models in young men’s lives (including through male teachers), and expanding the menu of educational options available to all families, regardless of income, including public, charter, private, and home education.
But flourishing should not be construed as solely an economic end point. The richest man in the world is poor if he lacks positive relationships in his life. Too many men today are rudderless. Our culture focuses so much on toxic masculinity that it has lost sight of the essential force for good in a healthy culture: positive, self-sacrificing masculinity that lives for others more than self.
This should be our second goal: Help men better connect socially. The primary way is through family life. The social impact of men can’t be understated. Healthy, engaged fatherhood is a key determinant of healthy outcomes for kids. The role of fatherhood is central to a flourishing society – and we know that fatherhood also benefits men by giving them the transformational purpose of helping to raise the next generation.
This positive pathway for men – through the two areas of work and family life – can bring the millions of men who are lost and suffering today back into a fruitful life.
