Potential merits of appointing a Minister for Men and Boys

Advocacy for establishing a minister for men and boys in the UK has developed over more than a decade, driven by concerns that men and boys face gender‑specific challenges that lack dedicated governmental attention.

Early arguments were laid out by commentators and campaigners such as Tim Samuels who in 2015 drew attention to issues such as boys' performance at school, “spiralling male suicide figures” and male prison population. In 2018, campaigner, Swayne O’Pie set out the case for a ministerial role focused on male issues:

Men are the only identifiable group in Britain that does not have any representation.

We don't want to take anything away from women but they have had a minister since 1997 and men should have the same.

Men have the exact same issues today as we had 20 years ago.

Former MP for Don Valley, Nick Flecter, made the case for a minister for men in a 2023 publication by noting the existence of a Minister for Women and Equalities, a Minister for Women, a Women’s Health Ambassador and a Women’s Health Strategy all of which “rightly shine a spotlight on issues specific to women”. In his view, “the crisis in men and boys’ wellbeing” showed that there were specific issues affecting them too:

Today, 13 men will die by suicide, 88 men will die of heart disease; and over 2,500 men will be sleeping rough. Wembley Stadium can be filled by the number of men in prison, growing numbers of young men are not in education, work or training (over 400,000), and boys are behind girls at every stage of education. Around 35,000 fewer 18-year-old boys will go to the university this autumn than girls of the same age.

These are all troubling statistics, but having been elected to Parliament four years ago, I see very little focus from the Government or any other national institution that is looking to address them.

We need a Minister for Men.

In November 2023, the Coalition for Men and Boys published the results of an International Men’s Day survey which showed that:

two thirds of British men (63%) believe there should be a Government minister with responsibility for men’s health and well-being, with only 10% considering it unnecessary.

In a 2023 article, an Observer columnist, Martha Gill argued that the idea of a minister for men was “insulting”. Gill stated:

Imagine appointing a minister for any other dominant group – a minister for white people, say, or heterosexuals, or the able-bodied.

Or how about a minister for the upper classes? You could after all argue that the upper classes suffer from problems specific to their group. Psychological scars from boarding school, hunting-related spinal injuries, receding chins, emotional reticence, an over-reliance on homeopathy, persistent mockery in sketch shows, spite from leftwing columnists and more difficulty, these days, getting an entry job at the BBC.

Tom Jones, an editor of the Critic, argued that while men face serious, long‑standing social problems—such as high rates of suicide, homelessness, murder, and imprisonment—a proposed Minister for Men would be an ineffective and largely symbolic response. The role, he argued, would either duplicate existing ministerial responsibilities or become a “token position” and cross‑departmental figure unable to influence the systemic socio‑economic causes behind these issues.

In response to a question tabled on 22 May 2025 in the House of Commons on whether the government had made a recent assessment of the potential merits of appointing a Minister for men, the government stated:

We are committed to making equality a reality for everyone. The Equality Act 2010 requires the interests of both men and women to be considered when making decisions or developing and implementing policies.

This Government recognises that men can face specific challenges in today’s society and is taking steps to address these through work across Departments. For example, we announced earlier this year that we would develop England’s first ever men’s health strategy; and in the workplace, the landmark Employment Rights Bill will extend day one rights and support flexible working, so that fathers can better support their families and spend more time with their children if they choose.

In February 2026, in response to a question by Luke Evans MP on whether “it was about time” for the appointment of a Minister for Men and Boys, the Prime Minister stated:

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his support for what we are doing about violence against women and girls. I agree that this is not about women or men, or boys or girls; it is about both. That is why I was very pleased to bring forward our men’s health strategy, one of the first of its sort, to deal with the challenges that young men in particular, in my view, have growing up, particularly to do with social media, and to go further on the question of suicide, which I know the whole House is prepared to work together on—and quite right, too.

Until the Second World War, new government departments and ministerial positions were often created by legislation.

A change in practice was signified by the Ministers of the Crown (Transfer of Functions) Act 1946, which conferred power to transfer functions between government departments, and to dissolve departments, by Order in Council. These powers are now contained in the Ministers of the Crown Act 1975.

In their recent publication Executive Self-Government and the Constitution, the legal academics Terence Daintith and Alan Page observe that:

from the 1960s onward the practice of creating departments by statute, and giving the title of ‘Minister of’ to those who head them, has ceased. Since that time, most senior ministers, the ones at the head of departments, have been appointed, in the exercise of the [royal] prerogative, to the office of Secretary of State, which is in law treated as a single office that may be held by a number of persons.

The exercise of the royal prerogative means that an appointment does not require a statutory (i.e. legislative) basis.

• Educational Outcomes for Boys, volume 769: debated on Wednesday 18 June 2025
• Men, 22 May 2025 |UIN 54556
• Engagements, 17 January 2024 | c823
• Engagements, 6 December 2023 | c334
• Government Equalities Office: Policy Relating to Men, volume 736: debated on Wednesday 12 July 2023