Where Are The Men In Helping Professions?

In the days leading up to Father's Day in 2009, President Obama reminded men everywhere that their responsibilities do not end with conception. Paraphrasing, he went on to say that the measure of a man is not his ability to create a child, but having the courage to raise one. It is clear that the absence of the male presence in the home is endemic in the US, and has a serious impact on the upbringing of children. Given my current surroundings, I wonder if the lack of men in the helping professions (social work, counseling/ therapy, teaching, etc.) is having a similar impact on youth and wider society in this mission field?

I currently attend Teachers College (Columbia University) where I am pursuing a Masters in Mental Health Counseling. Focusing on my specific program, I am one of approximately twelve men in a cohort of over 100 students! What's even crazier is that due to the recent recession driven return to grad school, I learned that my program has two or three times as many men as normal! This means that under normal circumstances I would be one of maybe 3-5 men total in my entire program. Taking an institutional view, the current figures reveal a gender (im)balance in of 76.8% female to 23.2% male in a student body of 5,388. This effectively means that a miniscule 1 in 4 students is male. This may be the accepted status quo, but to me, it poses a problem. We all know that the helping professions have traditionally been dominated by women -- the underlying issue being socialization around gender and gender stereotyped career paths. Unfortunately outside of 75%-25% ratio at institutions like TC, the world that helping professionals (HPs) serve is basically split 50-50. How well can HPs fully address the needs of clients without close to matching representation?

Follow me for a moment: I was at the beach recently with my wife and another couple. As we observed some very engaged fathers playing with their young children, our discussion turned to whether it is better to be raised by a single mother versus father. After clearing the initial hurdle of the different needs of girls/boys, we agreed that many of the problems faced in adolescence and adulthood relate back to absent fathers. The term "daddy issues" pervades pop-culture as a somewhat sarcastic but truth-containing label, often placed on women who can't seem to be in "healthy" relationships, or the out of control teenage boys (stereotypical examples, I know). The term "mommy issues" hasn't quite caught on - partially because mothers rarely forsake their children, in addition to the the tangible differences in impact of each parent on a child's development. As mentioned in a previous post (Daddy Issues Recognizing the...) no matter how great a mother is, she cannot MODEL for her son what it means to be a good man. She also cannot MODEL for her daughter how she should expect and demand to be treated by men and what an example of a good husband/father looks like - this latter point applies to both. The operative word here is MODEL. Bringing the conversation back to the helping profession, the same issue applies, given the tangibly differential impacts between male versus female HPs on clients -- based on this ability to model...

Let's not get it twisted, this is not about one sex/gender being superior the other within the helping field. Predicated upon the goal of meeting the needs of the population, shouldn't HPs ideally be as diverse as the communities they serve, be it by race, ethnicity or gender? There are certain ways that a male social worker or therapist might be able to connect with a troubled teenage boy and show him how to better channel his aggression etc., that may not be accessible to a female counterpart. A teenage girl who has often suffered in her relationships with the male figures in her life might benefit from experiencing a healthy male/female relationship with her male case manager. With the predominance of women in the field, these opportunities are simply being lost, and it is the clients who suffer. Ultimately, this discussion is a recognition that men are needed to step up not only as fathers, but also to fill the ranks in a professional area that is critical within society. 

Fellow A-i-Ts, do you work as a HP and do you also see this trend? Do you agree/disagree that more men are needed? Let me hear your thoughts. 

Peace,
A-i-T