But why aren't females withdrawing from society? What keeps them?
There's stereotypes within the US that women tend to be more likely to be supported while men are more likely to get abandoned. But that might just be a really low resolution model of reality which fails to capture the full nuances of the situation.
What do you think are some of the potential reasons for the sex disparity?
- Dating: Men are, generally speaking, expected to make the first move, which creates pressure to perform.
- Work: Men are expected to provide for a family, which creates pressure to perform.
- Social backup: Because of all that pressure to ge ahead social structures inside male dominated circles are more competitive (which reduces support and adds pressure). But I might be wrong about that.
- Genetics and hormones: Men are, AFAIK, seen as the sex of the extremes. There are more high performing and low performing men than women.
Biology. In evolutionary terms we're still the same creatures as our neolithic ancestors. The clear division of roles by sex, that you see in most other animal species, are also baked into our brains. To the degree we cannot fill the roles that our brains tell us we should be filling, we feel useless, unfulfilled, and unhappy.
Women feel unhappy as they live out their childbearing years without a male partner, children or without fulfilling the role of mother and nurturer.
Men feel unhappy as they live out the prime of their lives without children and a female partner and fulfilling the roles of protector and provider.
Obviously there are exceptions, and compensating mechanisms. But it's not that complicated.
in general women have less stigmas against not working (even 50 years after women entered the work force en masse and the modern western workforce is basically 50/50) and perform better in school than men. So I imagine it's a mix of less women falling through the cracks to begin with and them more support options if they do.
Other factors on the male side include being more likely to abuse alcohol/drugs and less likely to get treated for mental health issues. it's part of why homeless population are overwhelmingly male (not to mention there are some female-exclusive shelters for homeless women).
Males may have higher career ceilings, but much lower floors as well, with not as many people trying to reach out.