Christians can help solve Britain’s ‘boy problem’. But we need to speak the truth

As a recent The Telegraph articles announces that “Britain has a boy problem”, and statistics show men and boys lagging behind, James Mildred says one answer is for the Church to be bolder in speaking God’s truth about marriage, family and equality 

Whether it is at school, college, university or at work, boys and men are having a tough time of it. They are being outperformed by girls in education and are working fewer hours as well. Men might still be earning more, but even that is (rightly) changing.

The attainment gap begins at school. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), by the age of three, there is a “significant gender gap in both cognitive and socio-emotional development” between girls and boys. This is a gap that never completely closes.

Nor is this problem unique to Britain. According to Richard Reeves, an academic and author of Of Boys and Men: Why the modern male is struggling (Swift Press): “boys now lag behind girls and men lag behind women at almost every level of education. This is true in nearly every rich economy.”