A Coalition to Create a White House Council on Boys & Men

An Open Letter to President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, and the White House Gender Policy Council

Contact information: Coalition Chair: Dr. Warren Farrell, warren@warrenfarrell.com, 415-754-5233

Dear President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, and the White House Gender Policy Council:

On November 13, the same day that Harvard Magazine reported a widening life expectancy gap between men and women, with men dying 5.9 years earlier than women on average, a new White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research was launched. While we fully support the well-being and health of everyone, we feel the need to point out that there are male health and well-being issues that you are not currently addressing.

We believe that you have forgotten boys and men.

What have you forgotten?

• Mortality: Boys and men die sooner from 14 out of 15 of the leading causes of death.1
• Suicide: Boys and men take their own lives 4 times more often than women and girls. Approximately 37,000 men and boys commit suicide each year.1
• Workplace deaths: Men comprise 93% of workplace deaths. Approximately 4,500 men die each year from occupational injuries.2
• Homelessness: Men are 68% of the unsheltered homeless. Approximately 160,000 men are homeless and unsheltered.3
• Imprisonment: Men make up 93% of prisoners. Approximately 1.1 million men are imprisoned in state or federal correctional facilities.4
• Murder: Men are 78% of murder victims. Approximately 11,000 men are murdered each year.5
• Drugs: Men comprise 70% of accidental drug overdose deaths, with a staggering number of over 71,000 such deaths provisionally counted in 2022.6
• Alcohol: Men comprise 70% alcohol-induced deaths. Approximately 35,000 men die of alcohol-induced deaths each year 1

Your Gender Policy Council and your Gender Equality and Equity Platform focus only on female gender issues. In addition to your recent women’s health initiative, there are also already eight offices focused on female health, and zero such offices for male health.

We believe not enough focus is being brought upon male health and well-being. Based on the above information, it is time for the White House to create a council that focuses on male gender issues. Goals could include:

• Creating a permanent Office of Men’s Health
• Creating a White House Men’s Mental Health Initiative
• Creating supportive programs specifically for men to prevent and recover from drug and alcohol abuse
• Examining the evidence for, causes and solutions to the boy crisis.

Because we are all interconnected, we are convinced that better health and well-being for men helps us all. Better health outcomes for men will also save the country billions of dollars, as the CDC acknowledges.8

Let America be a leader of compassion for both sexes. The UK is already working on developing a Ministry for Men. MP Nick Fletcher, the prime candidate for Minister, just spoke to Parliament, quoting Dr. Warren Farrell, saying, "When only one sex wins, both sexes lose."

We would be happy to donate our time and energy in helping you better understand male gender issues and putting together such a council. We invite President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, and your assistants, and the members of the Gender Policy Council and White House Staff to contact us at your convenience.

Signed:

Members of the Coalition to Create a White House Council on Boys and Men

Dr. Warren Farrell - Chair, Author, The Boy Crisis
Tom Golden, LCSW therapist/author The Way Men Heal
James L. Nuzzo, PhD, Medical Researcher
Christopher W. Hancock, CEO Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity
Richard A. Warshak, Ph.D., Past Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Vicki Lathom, Former President, National Organization for Women, Washington, D.C, Chapter
Mark Sherman, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, SUNY New Paltz
Mark Sutton, MBA, Co-creator of the Boys and Men’s Well-Being Index (An index co-created and funded by the Global Initiative for Boys and Men)
Sean Kullman, President, Global Initiative for Boys and Men
Philip W. Cook, Author, expert witness, Secretary/Treasurer Global Initiative For Boys and Men

References:

1 Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Xu J, Arias E. Deaths: final data for 2020. National Vital Statistics Reports: 72(10), 2023.

2 U.S. Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics. National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries 2021. December 2022.

3 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The 2022 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report 2022 Homeless Report (AHAR) to Congress. December 2002.

4 Carson EA, U.S. Department of Justice - Bureau of Justice Statistics. Prisoners in 2021 - statistical stables. 2021.

5 U.S. Department of Justice - Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2019 Crime in the United States - Expanded Homicide Data Table 1.

6 Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Provisional Mortality Statistics.

7 Office of Women’s Health. Creation of Offices on Women's Health at the federal level.

8 Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Health and Economic Costs of Chronic Diseases.

Pdf of Letter to President