Men: The second sex?

Article here. Excerpt:

'These days, outside top City circles, being a man does not signify first-class status. In much of modern life, maleness means coming second. For instance, boys are now less likely than girls to succeed in school and are less likely to apply for and get into university. Last year there were 172,925 female undergraduates and only 141,643 male. Teenage boys are more likely to take drugs, drink, commit crime and exhibit antisocial behaviour. They also tend to spend longer out of work and in training. Society has become “feminised” in the skills it values: multitasking, communication, sitting still in front of a computer — all these play to female strengths rather than male ones. And accordingly, the social status of masculinity is changing. In many areas it is men who are now The Second Sex, as Simone De Beauvoir, the feminist philosopher, described women in 1949.
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The dearth of male teachers in primary schools and the high numbers of single mothers in areas such as Moston leave many boys with no such father figure. Meanwhile, many relationships break down because of domestic violence, leaving boys with a sense that men are hated and hate them.
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Fishwick believes there is yet another problem facing his youngsters: the education system itself. Is the curriculum weighted against boys? “I have spent 30 years teaching in mixed schools. In my experience the system favours the girls; they are more sophisticated in communication and emotional awareness. They mature earlier. At 13 or 14, pupils have to make choices that will affect the rest of their lives. The girls are in a much better place to do that. And changes to the curriculum also play to their strengths.”
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If women continue to dominate the learning sphere, more men are going to have to learn the Llanelli lesson. Perhaps Duffield and his peers are the last generation of men who will be able to assume that they rule the world. In future no man will be able to ask his question. But what makes me profoundly optimistic are the extraordinary men I met while researching this piece; there are remarkable role models out there waiting to lead our lost boys into the future.

They may not be lost, however, so much as tentatively finding their way to a new kind of manhood. If the relationships of the future include massage, supper — crispy potatoes, even — things are looking up, not least for the exhausted career woman who walks through the door in the evening. As Simone de Beauvoir said in 1949, “The free woman is just being born.” Could the same now be true of men?'