Utah Governor Spencer Cox talks about challenges facing boys and men

This commentary is a partial repost of an article that was originally published on the Of Boys and Men Substack.

Over the past year, a number of Democrat governors have made serious commitments to the issues of boys and men, especially Gavin Newsom (California), Wes Moore (Maryland) and Gretchen Whitmer (Michigan).

But the first mover on this front was the Republican Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox. In 2023 he established a Task Force on the Wellbeing of Men and Boys, in partnership with the Sutherland Institute, the premier think tank in the Beehive State. The Task Force is chaired by Aimee Winder Newton, the governor’s senior adviser, and Nic Dunn, vice president of strategy at Sutherland. It was asked to focus in particular on “mental and physical health, enhanced vocational opportunities, and strengthening the sense of purpose for Utah’s men and boys.”

It was a much lower-profile initiative, for sure, in part because of the culture wars roiling the Republican Party in Utah and elsewhere at the time; and ever since. But Cox is now going much more public, showing that this is emphatically not a partisan issue.

Anchors for men

This week the Task Force completed the first stage of its work, based on a large survey and community focus groups, summarized in its first report, “Missing Anchors.” There is also a Sutherland Institute podcast series focused on boys and men in Utah, which is well worth checking out, including an episode on apprenticeships with my sometime co-author and friend of AIBM Zac Boren and one on reducing male suicide with Joe Tuia’ana, founder of the awesome I Love You, Bro Project.

In his presentation of the Task Force report this week, Nic Dunn opened with a good quote from Seneca’s “Letters to Lucilius”:

If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.

The driving theme of the report is that men need anchors, whether through work, family, faith, or community. I strongly agree, of course.

The good news, as “Missing Anchors” shows, is that most men in Utah and indeed nationally are doing OK or better. This was an important reminder: whenever we discuss the challenges being faced by any particular group, we are almost always talking about a subset of that group (or rather subsets, depending on the specific issue).

I strongly recommend the report (and not only because AIBM supported it), which is rich in data and analysis. One chart that jumped out at me shows the survey results for men in Utah and men nationwide on purpose:

The good news is that most men say they understand their purpose in life. The share is a full 10 percentage points higher in Utah than the U.S. as a whole, almost certainly a reflection of the unusually high rates of religiosity and marriage in the state. But the share of men saying that they don’t know their purpose is not trivial: 16% nationally and 14% in Utah. Those are worrying statistics.

I was privileged to have the chance to discuss the broader topic with Gov. Cox at the launch event in Salt Lake City. (If you missed the livestream I’ll be sure to let you know when the recording goes up). Like many others, Gov. Cox has a strong personal investment in this issue. He talked openly about the impact of his parents’ divorce when he was 10 years old, his mental health challenges, and the role of other men, of father figures, in his life. We discussed, among many other topics:

• The vital importance of male role models – coaches, mentors, teachers, church leaders – for boys and young men. I of course made my usual plea for policy efforts to increase the share of male teachers in the K-12 system. In Utah, men now account for just 20% of educators.

• The role of “thick” institutions, including civic organizations, churches and other places of worship, to support and develop boys and young men.
• The need to focus on the challenges facing girls and women and those for boys and men. As Gov. Cox reiterated, this is not a zero-sum game.
• Concerns about mental health and especially the high suicide rate among men in the state; the incarcerated population, the impact of technology and male-friendly services are key themes here.
• The crucial role of fathers and fatherhood, not just for boys and girls, but for men themselves in providing purpose and meaning. The governor is famous for his drive to “disagree better” and one genuine difference of opinion in the room was over the relationship between fatherhood and marriage. My view is that good dads aren’t required to be husbands, without denying the obvious value of an enduring marriage of biological parents. But it’s an important debate.

It’ll be exciting to see where this work leads in Utah. There were in-depth panels on the three main topics with representatives from the Task Force as well as the administration. These led me to be quite optimistic that some thoughtful policies are likely to be in the offing.

The event was closed out with a terrific short address by Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson. She described her experience of being only one of two female Republican state senators; at the time there were more GOP senators named Dan. A lack of gender diversity leads policymakers to “seeing only through one eye,” she said. Henderson then said the intentional focus on women and girls was and remains necessary, but must now be matched with a similarly intentional approach to the specific challenges of boys and men. To look, in other words, with both eyes.

My sincere hope is that the cause of boys and men will not be a partisan one. Of course Democrats and Republicans are likely to come at the question with different priors, and to lean towards somewhat different solutions. But that’s as it should be. Let the contest of ideas begin!

What impresses me is the seriousness with which these leaders on both sides of the aisle are now approaching these questions.

Richard V. Reeves

AIBM President