Male Role Models: Who You Need And Why You Need Them
The media often portrays men as the ones who cause wars, do low-paying jobs, and deal drugs. In contrast, females are seen as the nurturers of society — providing a stable life for their children, cooking nutritious food to feed their families, and teaching their children to be successful. These depictions have had an effect on both genders of today. With these stereotypes so engrained in our subconscious minds, it is no wonder that we find ourselves judging others by gender without truly knowing them. So where do we go from here to create gender equality?
What is the solution? Character education.
Character education centers on the development of positive values, attitudes, and skills. It has been used effectively in many schools to bridge the gap between male and female students by helping them discover that they are more alike than they are different. Character education helps students discover their own strengths and how to support their peers in being positive role models for each other.
A key part of character education is the development of mentors for young people. Mentors are adults who are willing to volunteer their time to help a young person develop into successful, contributing members of society. Research has shown that having a male mentor can help improve the self-esteem of boys. A study on gender equality in the U.S. found that boys who had a male mentor rated their confidence and academic performance higher than boys who did not have a mentor.
Why do we need mentors?
As girls have been portrayed in the media for years, we have learned to judge them based on what we see. We believe that men are the only ones who can adequately take care of themselves (and their families) and are the only ones who can teach others how to be successful. We continue this pattern until we grow older and realize that it is not fair to judge others based on what we see.
Women are capable of the same things that men are. In fact, some women have even excelled in typically male-dominated fields such as sports, business, politics and science. Yet, despite this evidence to the contrary, people continue to stereotype and judge women by what they see on television or in movies.
How can we better educate others?
Mentoring is one way. It allows boys to learn that they too are capable of being successful men, gives girls a role model who can help them learn how to be successful women and allows us to break the cycle of gender stereotypes.
Everyone benefits when we encourage boys and girls to become good role models, but it is especially important for young people to have male mentors because they already tend to overvalue the actions of men in society. A male mentor will help them see the value in being an active member of society that contributes positively to the community, independent from what they have been taught.
How can we get more male mentor applicants?
Although many schools and community programs need more mentors for their programs, it can be difficult to find males who are willing to volunteer their time. Therefore, we need more male role models. We can do this by taking the time to understand the positive impact that mentors have on young people because, " ...people with mentors tend to be more motivated, successful and satisfied with their lives than those without."
This is why organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters are providing role models for young people in communities who need them. It is also why Battling Boy Scout Camp is working to develop male role models for boys and girls. By encouraging men to mentor young people, we are breaking the cycle of gender stereotypes and allowing boys and girls to have a chance to grow up as successful adults.
Who can work as a mentor?
As I mentioned before, it is severely difficult to find male mentors, so our focus must be on broadening the reach of programs that can provide mentors for young people. As we expand mentoring programs, we will see more leaders in our community who want to step up and help encourage young people to be good role models.
If you have a program that needs more mentors, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. Let's break the cycle of gender stereotypes and allow young people to grow up as good citizens of our community.
ARTICLE END
A few days ago, I saw a post on Facebook about an article in India. It was about a boy who became homeless after his parents died. He almost starved to death until he got picked up by the police, and then put into a shelter for homeless children. For 3 years he lived at that shelter and went to school. His grades were good so he was able to get sponsored by some people who had seen him in the shelter.
Conclusion: Big Brother Big Sisters isn't the problem. It's that we as a society don't make sure that everyone is getting taken care of. Sure, some people are going to abuse the system. And that's not ok. But other people need help and deserve it as well.