'Crisis' of young men in North falling behind women in everything from education to income, report finds

“Boys and young men are in crisis,” the CSJ declares in the research, endorsed by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

“Whilst the last hundred years have been marked by great leaps forward in outcomes and rights for women, in this generation it is boys who are being left behind. And by some margin.

“From the day they start primary school, to the day they leave higher education, the progress of boys lags behind girls.”

And those in the North of England have fallen furthest behind when it comes to the gender pay back.

On average, the gross pay of northern men aged 16 to 24 was nearly £4,000 less per year than their female counterparts.

This is more than twice the average gap, of just under £1,500, for those in the South.

The report says: “This has significant wider social and cultural implications than for income alone.”

The recent Social Mobility Commission State of the Nation report found former industrial areas across Yorkshire and the North have the lowest level of opportunities for people.

While the CSJ says “male-dominated industries such as manufacturing, agriculture and construction” are causing a rapid fall in “secure, well-paid and meaningful jobs that used to be available to non-university educated young men”.

It adds that the Covid pandemic and lockdowns have only exacerbated the gap between young men and women.

When it comes to education, the CSJ says, sex is almost as influential in educational outcomes as development and deprivation in the early years.

The Yorkshire Post has reported how nine of the 10 areas with the highest unauthorised school absences are in the North, including Bradford and Sheffield.

The Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said that one of her priorities is tackling the “baked-in massive inequality into the education system, including regional disparities”.

But the growing disparity between men and women is not just limited to income and education, Lost Boys finds.

Men are three and a half times more likely than women to take their own lives and are acutely vulnerable to suicide at almost all ages.

The report reveals how, “in the most deprived areas, the overall suicide rate is double that of the least deprived areas”.

Miriam Cates, former MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge and senior fellow at the CSJ, said: “Successive governments have ignored the problems facing young men.

“We have let down a generation of boys and young men, in particular those in the north of England.

“For too long, politicians, policy makers, the media and the arts have turned a blind eye to the needs of boys in the name of ‘equality’.

“We are now reaping the whirlwind as we see the devastating impacts of ignoring the challenges facing young men in Britain.

“Far from creating equality, we have penalised young men for the crime of being male, labelling them as 'toxic' and 'problematic', and failing to provide a positive vision of masculinity.”