What are some of the “costs” of gender inequality for men?
Unequal power suppresses women and girls – but also oppresses men and boys – and makes each sex vulnerable in different ways to HIV infection. In fact, men pay significant costs within patriarchies: enormous health disadvantages include occupational health and safety costs since men predominate in dangerous industries such as mining. They are more likely to be subject to alcoholism, sexually-transmitted diseases, homicidal violence, and imprisonment. And in the formal economy there is enormous pressure on men to spend long hours at the workplace. In some occupational groups this results in a life practically consumed by “work”. The negative side to a poor “work/family life balance” is that there is little time to share with partners and children, the bulk of unpaid work in the home falls on the shoulders of women, and it is difficult to be a good father in any way except as an economic provider. Rigid gender roles and expectations also narrow men’s cultural experience. In education, me
