Society has become familiar with the idea that a workplace built and run by men, will likely take a shape that benefits other men. This is not necessarily intentional, but perhaps the result of men seeing the world as men, and acting accordingly. Over the last few decades the world has seen a welcome transformation to undo these biases; different hours, flexible working, parental options, childcare, workplace toilets and even air conditioning are being reexamined and changed to accommodate working women. And it’s about time. Just last month Spain passed the first law to allow ‘menstrual leave’ for those experiencing especially painful periods during the working week. But like all things, the story doesn’t and cannot end there. Because guess what - there are places in society where women dominate, and where spaces have been built to meet women’s needs, rather than mens’. See it this way – if a boardroom of 80% men leads to male favouring workplaces, then what is to be said about school classrooms that are 80% women teachers? Or domestic violence charities that are 99% women? What about the field of psychology, where 82% of clinical psychologists are women, and 85% of psychology students are women? Are we going to inspect these places through the same lens as the male dominated workplaces? Might this misbalance explain why so many men *do* go to therapy, only to drop out, and take their own lives? Are men falling through the same gender blind spots in therapy, that women fell through in corporate workplaces and offices for generations? And who has the guts to close these gaps? Is it time we stopped blaming men for the short comings and inadequacies of the psychological industry? ~ Source APPG Report on Male Suicide 2022. Study on Australian men and Therapy Images by Mathias Reding, Ali Morshsediou, Sigmund Jzz, Cathal Mac an Bheatea, Kiwi Hug and Mark Adrian. #mensmentalhealth #mentalhealth #malesuicideawareness #malepsychology #psychology

2023-03-27