I've been reflecting on some societal trends lately, mainly how men and women are, or aren't, supported in society, education, and workplace. And while I was reading through some articles (mostly randomly), I came across a few interesting statistics and numbers. This will be a longer post, but I hope worth reading.

So let's have a look at some figures. Let's start with women:

Employment:

  • In 2024, The U.S. Department of Labor awarded $6 million to several organizations to “expand pathways for women into industries” (source).
  • Since 2009, UN Women has invested $65 million in 80 countries, focusing on “women’s economic and political empowerment through dedicated support to women-led civil society organizations”. (source)
  • Melinda French Gates announced to donate $1 billion over next 2 years, among other goals to help women secure and advance in stable and well-paying employment. (source)
  • The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Women at Work Programme invests millions annually in projects that promote the quality of women's employment, especially in developing countries (for example).
  • The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) has mobilized over $5 billion in financing for nearly 400,000 women-led small and medium-sized enterprises across 83 countries. (source)
  • The EU’s Gender Equality Strategy (2020-2025) invests hundreds of millions of euros for “the empowerment of women in the economy” (for example).
  • Let's not forget companies like Google and Microsoft have committed hundreds of millions of USD to initiatives to boost women’s employment.

Education:

  • OWSD PhD Fellowships provides fully funded support exclusively for women from developing countries.
  • MPOWER Women in STEM Scholarship offers up to a $5000 prize for female international students.
  • Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Fellowships specifically supports women from developing countries in STEM.
  • L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowships - dedicated to advancing women researchers globally.
  • AAUW International Fellowships - only awarded to women for graduate/postgraduate study.
  • Elsevier Foundation’s Women in Global Science Fellowships - targets early-career women scientists, especially in developing countries.

I haven't fact-checked this all, but obviously support for women in tech fields isn't rare.

Then there is a whole network of organizations that stand behind women and protect their rights and interests. For example:

  • UN Women operating in 109 countries.
  • Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) supporting over 1300 organizations in 44 countries (including feminist organizations and youth rights groups, directly serving over 1.2 million people of which 90% are women and girls).
  • Equality Now, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Global Fund for Women, Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing, Women for Women International, …
  • Numerous organizations supporting women in tech fields (IEEE Women in Engineering, National Center for Women & Information Technology, Girls Who Code, Black Girls Code, Ada Developers Academy, Million Women Mentors, … in a quick search I was able to count at least 20, but there's probably more).
  • Of course a lot of health related organizations too…

Many of the women's rights organizations are backed by the UN, World Bank, governments and various donors. A few example figures show the funds they operate with:

  • Between 2022 and 2023, OECD-DAC members disbursed an average of $55 billion in support of “gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls” world-wide, including $5.8 billion in support of projects with gender equality as a principal objective and $49.3 billion for projects with gender equality as a significant objective. (source)
  • In 2023, UN Women received $562.9 million, an all-time high (source)
  • UN’s 2024 Gender Equality Acceleration Plan aims to give 15% of UN expenditures to target gender equality by 2026, and $300 million for women's organizations in crisis settings (source).
  • Since 2016 WPHF has mobilised $50 million to support women-led organizations in conflict and crisis zones. (source)
  • According to AWID, 1% to 2% of all international aid is directed specifically to women’s rights organizations (source)

A lot of money, right? Well, not really. A report from 2024 states that women's rights remain largely underfunded, with civil society organizations advocating for more resources (source). According to UN Women “an additional $360 billion annually is needed to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment globally across key global goals, including ending poverty and hunger” (source).

Despite all the efforts and financial resources invested in supporting women, in 2025, the World Economic Forum (WEF) estimated that it will take another 123 years to achieve gender parity (source).

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Ok, so, now let's have a look at men. How many organizations do we have? This is what I found with a quick search:

  • Movember - probably the biggest one, focusing on men's health, active in 20+ countries.
  • Men's Sheds - fights social isolation especially among older men, active in 9 countries.
  • Fathers' Rights Groups - promotes equal parenting rights, active rather locally.
  • National Coalition For Men (NCFM) - smaller organization for gender equality of men and boys, mainly US.
  • A Call to Men - prevention of male violence, healthy masculinity.
  • Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) - suicide prevention, UK mainly.
  • ManKind Project - mid-sized organization, personal growth, healthy masculinity.
  • MenEngage Alliance? (not sure this group actually directly supports men, as they seem to focus more on involving men in “ending patriarchal power and supporting women's rights, LGBTQI rights, and human rights” accordin to their website).
  • …

I found a few more, but it looks like I can count them on my fingers and they're usually of smaller size.

Now let's have a look at funding:

  • Movember raised over $1 billion since 2003, on average ~$47 million per year.

I haven't found much data for other organizations. It seems that some receive institutional funding, while others are run by private efforts. They usually raise only tens or hundreds of thousands of USD annualy.

I've then tried to find educational and emplyment support programs, but besides programs open to all genders, I haven't found many dedicated specifically to men or boys. Some universities support men in fields where they are underrepresented (e.g. nursing, education), but it doesn't seem frequent.

So, although I haven't looked into this deeper, it seems clear that support specifically for men is much less common, and in some cases non-existent.

That doesn't necessarily mean that men are left with no support at all. There are many organizations (e.g. for human rights) supporting everyone regardless of their gender, and those organizations might sometimes even have programs focusing on men and boys.

But it's quite clear that there's a large disparity in how many organizations there are to support women, and how many there are to support men, and also in how many funds they receive respectively.

So, does that mean we men simply just need less support? Or does that mean we don't face any specific issues?

Let's have a look at some stats:

Note: While these data are for the U.S., I believe similar patterns can be observed in other parts of the world as well.

  • Men are involved in more than 90% of fatal work injuries in the U.S. and are overrepresented in high-risk industries. (BLS 2023, source)
  • Men account for 66% of non-fatal workplace injuries in the U.S. (BLS 2023), despite being 53% of the workforce.
  • Men account for 70-80% of all homeless people in the U.S. (source)
  • Men make up 90% of the U.S. prison population, and studies show men are twice as likely to be incarcerated for the same crime as women, with sentences 63% longer on average. (source)
  • Men are underrepresented in college, with 42% of U.S. college students being men. Graduation rate at four-year institutions is 43% for male students. (source)
  • Men are more likely to be murdered than women, with 88% of U.S. homicide victims in 2021 being male (FBI data).
  • Men are significantly more likely to die by suicide. In the U.S., they are four times more likely than women. (source)
  • Also I'll mention a recent article, touching on the topic of online criticism (demonization) of men and how it affects even boys (source).

So obviously we have specific issues and they're clearly not minor. But does the society care? Or does the society care enough?

Well, that is a question I will leave for everyone to answer themselves.

But the good news is that there has been some awareness lately. I've noticed for example:

  • Presidential Message on National Men’s Health Week 2025: “For far too long, the health, happiness, and well-being of our Nation’s men have been neglected” (source).
  • The Governor of Maryland stated that “we need to have a greater statewide focus on supporting and elevating our men and boys.” (source)
  • NCFM filed a lawsuit pointing out that women’s commissions exist in 37 states in the U.S., but none for men and boys in any state. (source)

And for my part, I want to say that I do care too, and I've recently decided to look for ways in my life to support men. Of course, I'm only a small fish in a big pond, but I believe every bit of help counts.

What do you think? Will you look for ways to support men too?

If you've found this post interesting, feel free to share it. Just please include a link to this original post, since it took some effort to put together.

Disclaimer: I did my best to present accurate data, but I reserve the right to be wrong. If I've missed something or made a mistake, please feel free to point it out in the comments. Also apologies for mistakes in my english, as it's not my first language. Thank you.