Men and Stewardship
Every time I go to church I'm happy to see the little girl altar servers, but it's usually followed by a sad thought... where are the altar boys? Then I look around and I see... about two-thirds of the volunteer roles in church are filled by women. That's a stark contrast to when I was young. I look at the Knights of Columbus, a male fraternal organization dedicated to service, and I see only grey hair. I look in the pews and I notice the same trend. A quick search shows that it's not just my experience. Men are just not as involved in religious life and service.** But does that extend to the rest of our society?
(Of course I've decided to go down this rabbit hole.) The first thing I came across after I started digging into this was a study about employment and volunteering. Crazy as it sounds, unemployment pretty much prohibits men from volunteering, while women use part-time or not working as an opportunity for involvement. I guess I can understand that from a gender role perspective. Unemployed men, for better or worse, get a bad rap and I bet that has a massive impact on self confidence. I can't see that helping someone say, "Hey! Let me go make a difference in the world!" Kind of ironic since volunteering would probably boost their self confidence.
Then I started thinking about the places where people get involved, and children's sports came to mind. You'll be happy to hear that "Sports Coaching Is Still A Male Dominated Field". Phew.
That's about where I ended this little thought experiment for today. I don't have any brilliant thoughts, just that I think it's important for ALL of us to be involved in our communities, and I'm sad that the busy-ness of traditional families makes us much less willing to commit to it, myself included.
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Men are just not as involved in religious life and service.** (And do they have to be?) My faith life brings me a lot of comfort, challenge, and perspective. And on a scale of 1 to 10, I feel like I reach maybe a 3. While I don't think people have to be involved with religion, being part of something that calls you to be the best version of yourself should be a life requirement. And it should be an uncomfortable thing, not an echo chamber of self-righteousness. If should expand your heart, not harden it. :)
(Of course I've decided to go down this rabbit hole.) The first thing I came across after I started digging into this was a study about employment and volunteering. Crazy as it sounds, unemployment pretty much prohibits men from volunteering, while women use part-time or not working as an opportunity for involvement. I guess I can understand that from a gender role perspective. Unemployed men, for better or worse, get a bad rap and I bet that has a massive impact on self confidence. I can't see that helping someone say, "Hey! Let me go make a difference in the world!" Kind of ironic since volunteering would probably boost their self confidence.
Then I started thinking about the places where people get involved, and children's sports came to mind. You'll be happy to hear that "Sports Coaching Is Still A Male Dominated Field". Phew.
That's about where I ended this little thought experiment for today. I don't have any brilliant thoughts, just that I think it's important for ALL of us to be involved in our communities, and I'm sad that the busy-ness of traditional families makes us much less willing to commit to it, myself included.
_________________________________________________________________
Men are just not as involved in religious life and service.** (And do they have to be?) My faith life brings me a lot of comfort, challenge, and perspective. And on a scale of 1 to 10, I feel like I reach maybe a 3. While I don't think people have to be involved with religion, being part of something that calls you to be the best version of yourself should be a life requirement. And it should be an uncomfortable thing, not an echo chamber of self-righteousness. If should expand your heart, not harden it. :)
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