The Decline of Males: A Matter of Public Policy

Article here. Excerpt:

'The question is one of the most important the country faces: “Why the decline of men?” It’s not only important because males make up almost half the population of the country, although surely that’s enough. The question begs an answer because to ask it is to force us to confront the realities of U.S. public policy since roughly the end of the War in Viet Nam. When we do that, certain themes appear each tied together by a single thread. That thread is a disregard for the well-being of boys and men. Put simply, the decline of men and boys is a matter – and a result - of public policy.
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Autor touches on three public policies that have negatively impacted men and boys: free trade policies, zero tolerance and mandatory sentencing for criminal behavior, and single motherhood. He knows these things exist and limit men’s educational and economic options, but, with the exception of single motherhood, he somehow fails to grasp the fact that these are policies aimed directly at men.
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For example, in 1993, 84.4% of custodial parents were mothers; in 2009, it was 83.7% according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And much persuasive research shows that non-custodial parents of both sexes tend over time to become non-parents, either absent altogether or of limited authority to their children. That’s because the standard visitation order given such parents allows them access to their children between 13% and 20% of the time, i.e. not enough to maintain a true parent-child relationship. Plus, even that meager visitation is routinely denied or limited by the custodial mother and her violation of the court’s order is rarely punished in any way.
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These three major public policy choices over the past forty years or so go a long way to explaining Autor’s question about why men and boys are behaving differently in this economy than are women and girls. Put simply, males have been the targets of those policies and it should come as no surprise that men are reeling from the one- two- three-punch.'