YESTERDAY, May 16th, marked the International Day of the Boychild. And, as I think back over the past few years of my advocacy journey, I’ve realised that, despite widespread assumptions that the gender gap is narrowing due to social movements and efforts for gender equity and balance as well as the creation of a better world for girls, the situation of boys is falling short of expectations. In the course of my work, I’ve found that many boys are dropping out of school, many more are doing poorly academically, many others lack guidance and positive role models, and many are turning to crime and drugs. We’ve all been so immersed in closing the gender gap and creating better opportunities for the girl child that we’ve forgotten that boys are not pre-programmed from the womb to be perfect, but need to be properly taught, encouraged, positively mentored and made aware of the importance of their roles in society. Growing up and even now, I’ve had a lot of training on how I can be a great woman in society, how I can be a perfect wife and mother and how I can make my marriage successful. Most of the projects and conferences I’ve seen advertised are targeted at women and girls. And, while I’m really glad that women like me are doing great in our various fields, I find myself thinking, ‘What about the boychild?”, ‘What about men?’.
What happens if a woman who is empowered enters society and encounters a man who is viewed as deficient? A man who is denied assistance due to the prevailing belief that he is “the advantaged one” and who has little or no opportunity to acquire the necessary skills to become the kind of man that society wants. A man who fears showing weakness and being judged as a weakling for not being able to handle fundamental duties. What unfolds when an empowered woman decides to get married and start a family? Will she meet a man who shares her ambition and success? A man who can match her drive and achievements and has had as many training opportunities as she has had and is confident in his ability to match her level of empowerment and knowledge of family care? We don’t seem to have realised yet, that a neglected boy will probably grow up to become a broken man, and you can’t expect a man like that to contribute positively to society. Have you seen the recent surge in male school dropout rates? Have you noticed the large number of homeless children that live on our streets? The majority of whom are boys? Have you observed that boys commit crimes at a high rate? We complain about our boys and men, but do we give any thought to the underlying issues?
In 2021, UNESCO estimated that 244 million children between the ages of 6 and 18 are out of school globally, 125.5 million of which were boys. The 2022 UNESCO global report tagged, “Leave No Child Behind, Global Report on Boys’ Disengagement From Education”, noted that while girls face challenges accessing education at the primary level, boys face increasing challenges at later stages. The report showed that fewer boys than girls are enrolled in secondary and tertiary education. This problem has been attributed to poverty and child labour amongst other factors like domestic abuse, lack of positive role models, lack of attention and empowering programs targeted at boys, all of which are factors preventing boys from engaging fully in education. Sadly, the report also showed that only a few programs and initiatives are addressing boys’ disengagement from education. Part of its recommendations to address the situation include making learning safe and inclusive, and financing equitable educational opportunities and systems to improve education for all learners.
Through my interactions with boys at the “Boys Against Crime Campaign” programs run by my organisation, which aims to inform youth about the risks associated with criminal activities, I have discovered that the desire for easy wealth and a lack of motivation are the main causes of school dropouts, truancy, and a general lack of interest and engagement in education. This phenomenon is influenced by societal expectations that a man must always have enough money to maintain his dignity and relevance in society. The entertainment industry’s representation of cybercrime—commonly referred to as “Yahoo Yahoo” in Nigeria—as something trendy and typical for young men to partake in has an impact on their ambition to become wealthy rapidly. These boys will frequently claim that they think cybercrime would make them wealthy and that they cannot attain their goals through school or gainful employment. This, in my opinion, necessitates an evaluation of the educational system and a need to create more valuable and enjoyable curriculums that will make boys desire education and positive empowerment.
In Nigeria, two main issues that impact males are child labour and streetism. Boys make up at least 80 per cent of the children and adolescents who live and work on the streets. These boys run the risk of being enlisted into criminal gangs, sexually assaulted, exploited as illicit drug traffickers, and utilised as political disruptionists and thugs. Society is eventually forced to deal with the repercussions of their unfortunate circumstances. Are they to blame, though? Or are they merely the victims of dysfunctional families and flawed systems? We have seen how for several years now in the northern parts of Nigeria, boys are abducted from schools and recruited into terrorist groups. Others, like the Almajiris (children originally supposed to be undergoing Islamic Education in Northern Nigeria but who end up begging for alms on the streets), are particularly vulnerable. Children who have been denied basic care and needs, disregarded by society, who are scouted by groomers (ranging from institutional criminals to bandits and terrorists) and told that they can be useful for something, that they can attract the government’s and the world’s attention, that they can have a full stomach and exact revenge on the society that has neglected them. It is evident that without addressing the issues of streetism and neglect of the boychild, terrorism, crime, thuggery and domestic violence may never end in our societies. Therefore, on this day set aside to celebrate the boychild globally, I wish to call on the government and relevant stakeholders in all sectors to create equal opportunities for boys and girls to thrive, to make and enforce laws against the abuse of boys, to create mental health support for boys and men, to support initiatives targeted at helping boys and men, to address the problem of streetism and regulate the operation of Almajiri Institutions across the nation, to intensify the fight against crime, particularly cybercrime and terrorism, and protect children in schools, to invest better in education, science and technology and skills acquisition for young people and support development projects aimed at making our young people incredible assets globally and not liabilities.
Happy International Day of the Boychild.
- Oyinlola, a lawyer and the founder of the Boys Aid Network and Boys Against Crime Campaign (BACC), is currently studying Crime, Justice and Psychology MSc at the University of Leicester.
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