Global Initiative for Boys and Men

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The Global Initiative for Boys & Men (GIBM) focuses on research and advocacy to support boys and men, according to Sean Kullman, the group’s president.

GIBM has established a BAM index, a Boys and Men Well-Being Index, an open-source resource packed with information and statistics the reflect the well-being of boys and men. The BAM Index has data in 6 categories:

Education
Physical and mental health
Job, career and financial health
Fatherhood, family and relationships
Criminal justice system and court systems
Male narrative in the public discourse

The data shows that “we as a culture are just meaner — less understanding — to boys,” Kullman says. And our educational systems really don’t address the fact that boys and girls, generally speaking, learn differently. To date, state and federal governments also have been hesitant to allocate funding to boys’ & men’s issues.

Sean encourages parents of boys to run for a seat of their local school boards.

“I think we need to see more parents who feel strongly about their boys running for school board,” he says. “Until you get members of the community who care about boys on the board, it won’t change.”