Eight Charts Show Men Are Falling Behind, From Classrooms to Careers

Men falling behind women doesn’t begin in college classrooms. According to a Brookings Institution report, the average US boy at age 5 is 16 percentage points less likely to be school-ready than the average girl—a gap that persists over the course of their education. Researcher Richard Reeves presents evidence in his 2022 book, Of Boys and Men, that this disparity can be linked to boys’ brains developing more slowly, “especially during the most critical years of secondary education.” He suggests that a positive reform would be to “redshirt” the boys. In other words, give them an extra year of pre-K before starting them in school. Despite the growing bias toward girls in the education system, there continues to be a bias toward men in the office.

Boys are graduating from high school at a lower rate than girls in every state except Vermont. The trend holds true across racial groups as well.