Introduction

The International Men’s Day UK website describes the event as follows:

International Men’s Day (IMD) is an annual international event celebrated in over 80 countries including the UK on 19 November. It was inaugurated in 1999 in Trinidad and Tobago and has backing from UNESCO.

The UK theme for the Day continues to be “Making A Difference for Men and Boys”.

The theme is designed to help more people consider what action we can all take to “Make A Difference” by addressing some of the issues that affect Men and Boys such as:

The high male suicide rate

The challenges faced by boys and men at all stages of education including attainment

Men’s health, shorter life expectancy and workplace deaths

The challenges faced by the most marginalised men and boys in society (for instance, homeless men, boys in care and the high rate of male deaths in custody)

Male victims of violence, including sexual violence

The challenges faced by men as parents, particularly new fathers and separated fathers

Male victims and survivors of sexual abuse, rape, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, forced marriage, honour-based crime, stalking and slavery

The negative portrayal of men, boys and fathers

The following sections in this briefing provide background summaries and statistics from the Library and relevant parliamentary and press coverage.