International Men’s Day

Judith Cummins Excerpts

Thursday 21st November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) for securing this really important debate. I was touched to hear his powerful speech. I want to touch on two points that he so eloquently made. First, he rightly reminded us that there are many ways to be a man and many forms of masculinity. As a young gay man growing up in Berkshire in the ’90s, I struggled with that as I grew up. It took me many years to learn and feel comfortable in my own form of masculinity. I thank him for reflecting on that. I also thank him for so powerfully emphasising that gender inequality affects everyone. I do not think there can be any disagreement across the House on that important point.

International Men’s Day is an opportunity to remember the dreadful health outcomes affecting too many men in society, particularly when it comes to mental and emotional health. I emphasise emotional health and will come back to that.

Other Members have raised the alarming suicide statistics for men. In England and Wales, male suicide is three times more common than among women. Last year among men aged 20 to 34, suicide was the leading cause of death, and was responsible for over a quarter of deaths of men in that age range. I mention those statistics for England and Wales largely because I could not find regional or local authority data. I am grateful to the House of Common Library for highlighting those figures, but the lack of granular data struck me as something that should be addressed.

As well as International Men’s Day, on Monday we will recognise White Ribbon Day. I proudly wear my white ribbon today. The theme for this year’s White Ribbon Day is “It starts with men”. That is a poignant reminder that domestic violence and violence against women and girls is not just a women’s issue; it is also a men’s issue, and it is too often rooted in harmful masculine norms. Let me place on record the important point, which cannot be emphasised enough, that domestic abuse affects men as victims, too. It is really important that we acknowledge that.

Bracknell Forest has the highest rate of domestic abuse incidents in Berkshire. For that reason, I am grateful that this Government have set out their mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. What is the connection between domestic abuse and violence against women and girls, and men’s suicide? Both are proof that, too often, men do not get the support that they need. In the most extreme cases, this lack of support leads to violence against themselves and against those around them. The two issues are intrinsically linked.

Last week I was privileged to visit a fantastic local charity in my constituency, Youthline, which does amazing work offering free counselling services for children and counselling at a reduced cost for their families. I was fascinated to hear about the support that it offers young people dealing with complex emotional difficulties. I am sure that everyone in this House would agree that even the most loved and nourished child can face emotional difficulties growing up. It is a difficult time for the best of us—I should rephrase that; for those in the best circumstances—but for those facing challenges, it is often a hopelessly difficult time of life. Three quarters of the users of that service are girls. I was told that, too often, boys are referred to that fantastic service not to support their mental or emotional health but because of behaviour issues—because of a perception that they are misbehaving—when the root cause of that is a failure to support them through difficult emotional and mental health.

I was also privileged to visit a fantastic youth club in my constituency, The Wayz. The staff talked to me about the work that they do to support girls and boys to engage with the difficulties of growing up. They poignantly reminded me that, sometimes, boys find it harder to talk, so giving them the space to do so—often through activities rather than direct conversation—can have a real, positive impact on outcomes for young boys.

Prevention is always more effective than intervention—that is such an important point. With that in mind, it is welcome to see the Government’s work to bring more mental health services into the community and focus on prevention, with an additional 8,500 mental health workers promised by this Government. I would welcome an update from the Minister on the delivery of those additional mental health workers. Fundamentally, what we must do to support boys and men with their mental and emotional health is provide the spaces for them to talk through their issues in a way that supports them.

Others have mentioned the fantastic work of Andy’s Man Club. Very early in my time as a Member of Parliament, I was privileged to be invited to attend one of its meetings, as was my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth). Like him, I was deeply touched and moved by the marvellous work that it did in my community to reach men who have for too long been failed by a system that is not well geared to listening to them and encouraging them to talk about their difficulties. What I found most affecting was seeing that the service was being delivered not by trained mental health professionals, but by other men who had experienced similar difficulties in talking and sharing their emotional problems. They were supporting each other through their mental health struggles. It was a powerful reminder of the need for us all to provide and support the spaces that are needed to allow such important conversations to take place.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

The hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) was extremely eloquent, especially at the beginning of his speech when he described the work that he had done in other countries and in the UK to address inequality, acknowledged the gender pay gap and the violence perpetrated against women and girls by men, and explained how that did not undermine the need to discuss male-specific issues on International Men’s Day.

There are a great many issues that we could touch on and a number of them have been touched on by various Members, but, as the Liberal Democrat mental health spokesperson, I will focus primarily on that subject. Men are three times more likely than women to die by suicide. Since 1981, the suicide rate among women has approximately halved, but it has fallen by only 9% among men. A related fact is that at any given time, 12.5% of men have a mental health disorder. Men are twice as likely to die of alcohol-specific causes and about twice as likely to have substance abuse problems, they are less likely to have equal access to children, and 82% of rough sleepers are men—partly owing to mental as well as physical health issues.

I want to pay tribute to some amazing charities in Winchester. Emmaus Hampshire, the Winchester Beacon and Trinity Winchester are homelessness charities that work hard to ensure that homeless people have a safe place and support, can get back on their feet rather than being stuck out on the street, and can engage with social services. The staff, volunteers and other supporters—including the council—do an incredible job. Tomorrow I will be visiting Trinity Winchester with another charity called StreetVet, whose vets treat the dogs belonging to homeless people. This is not primarily an animal welfare issue. Homeless people with dogs are much less likely to take part in risk-taking behaviour, much more likely to engage with social services, and much more likely to get off the streets more quickly. These are multifactorial and complex issues, which almost always include a mental health factor, but there are many different ways in which we can come together to address them. One thing that has struck me is the fact that we are all much closer to becoming homeless than we are to becoming millionaires, regardless of our status in life.

Another organisation that I want to talk about is the Farming Community Network. I grew up on a small family farm in a rural area, and I now work as a vet with rural communities. We know that farmers have a very high suicide rate. Although an increasing number of women are becoming involved in farming, which is a very good thing, it is still very male-dominated. The mental health of farmers has been of specific concern for a long time.

About five years ago, I went to a Farming Community Network meeting and met a farmer from Australia who had had a mental health breakdown. He gave a talk about his journey, his mental health breakdown, how he got help and how he got through it. What really surprised me was that several hundred other farmers had turned up to hear the talk, and they all discussed mental health afterwards. A huge majority of the farmers were middle-aged or older, and I remember thinking that this showed how much progress we have made on men discussing mental health. I do not think that my father, who died a few years ago at the age of 83, would have ever discussed mental health. He certainly would not have talked to his friends about mental health issues or any struggles that he had. Farming is an industry where people have to be problem solvers, and they work in difficult conditions. It shapes people to be unwilling to show what they see as signs of weakness, but we know that those working in isolation and in tough situations need to rely on each other for help.

The hon. Member for Leyton and Wanstead (Mr Bailey) spoke about the 12,000 men who die each year from prostate cancer. We know that mental health and prostate cancer are the two biggest issues that get discussed when we think about men and men’s health. There are so many other issues as well, but those two are at the very top. I thank all the women who support men with health issues and mental health issues, because we know that women often ask men to go and get checked out when they have a health issue, and that women urge their partners or sons to go and get counselling. We know that men—I include myself—are really bad at proactively seeking help, and the nudges and support that we get from women must save so many lives.

We have talked a lot about the fact that, compared with women, men and boys currently underperform throughout their educational careers. We have also discussed the huge issues that we have with increasing radicalisation and misogyny, especially online. We have touched on people such as Andrew Tate and the effect that they have on impressionable young men who sometimes feel that they do not have the opportunities that they think they deserve. We know that throughout history, men have had more power, more access to finances and more influence than women.

On International Men’s Day, and as a man who is privileged enough to be in this Chamber, I want to take this opportunity to call for more research into endometriosis. It is an underdiagnosed disease of women, and there is often a delayed diagnosis. There has not been a huge amount of research into it, and many women struggle with endometriosis in the same way that men struggle with mental health issues. As the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland pointed out, men’s health issues affect women and women’s affect men. We should not separate them; we should work together and make sure that we support each other, because that is what we have to do going forward.

Finally, I wish to echo other Members’ comments. As someone who was a trustee of a mental health charity for seven years, I know that it is so important to talk to each other if we are struggling. I was really pleased when one of my constituents, Chris North, came up to me in the pub to say hello. He is a trustee of a charity called LooseHeadz, and he came to visit me in Parliament last week with the two founders, Dave and Rob. The charity is primarily based in rugby clubs, and its aim is to have a mental health lead in every single club. A little like farming, rugby is traditionally a fairly alpha male environment, although that is changing. The charity is aware that, if it gets into communities, teams and clubhouses—places where men go anyway—it can encourage them to open up and talk through peer-to-peer support. That is where it can make a huge difference.

Last week I met Sam Burge, a farmer from Winchester who is the local volunteer for the Farming Community Network. He talked about the importance of peer-to-peer support, and a breakdown of the calls to the Farming Community Network reveals a variety of issues, but mental health support and mental wellbeing are at the top of the list. It is encouraging to see that initiatives such as LooseHeadz and the Farming Community Network are encouraging men to reach out for help with their mental health.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call the shadow Minister.