International Men’s Day 2025

International Men’s Day is celebrated annually on 19 November. This iteration of the day was formally inaugurated by a lecturer, Dr Jerome Teelucksingh, in Trinidad and Tobago on 19 November 1999. In a podcast interview on 21 October 2020, Dr Teelucksingh suggested the need to “promote positive male role models” was his main motivation for founding the day.

In the UK, the day was first celebrated officially in 2010, and is organised by the Association of Male Health and Wellbeing (previously known as the Men and Boys Coalition). The day is normally the subject of a debate in the House of Commons.

During the debate last year, on 21 November 2024, Members drew attention to a range of issues, including male suicide and mental health; family breakdown and absent fathers; a perceived decline in positive male role models; and social isolation and loneliness, particularly in farming communities.

International Men’s Day in the UK has the same three core themes each year:

• Making a positive difference to the wellbeing and lives of men and boys

• Promoting a positive conversation about men, manhood and masculinity

• Raising awareness and/or funds for charities supporting men and boys’ wellbeing

The International Men’s Day UK website identifies some further specific issues that the day is intended to highlight:

• The high male suicide rate

• The challenges faced by boys and men at all stages of education and work including attainment, re-training, stress, redundancy and unemployment

• Men’s health (including male cancers), shorter life expectancy, body image and workplace deaths – plus the health impact of Covid-19

• The challenges faced by the most marginalised men and boys in society – for instance, homeless men, boys in care, school excluded boys and the high rate of male deaths in custody

• Male victims of violence and crime – for instance, bullying, sexual violence, gang violence, and, those coerced into county lines and other criminal activity

• The challenges faced by men as parents, particularly new fathers and separated fathers

• Male victims and survivors of sexual abuse, rape, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, forced marriage, honour-based crime, stalking. online image-abuse, sextortion and modern slavery

• Boys with no positive male role models in their lives

• Young men and boys at risk from online harms and pornography

• The negative portrayal of men, boys and fathers

This debate pack provides an analysis of male educational outcomes, men’s physical health, and men’s mental health, suicide and self-harm.