With Men’s Health Week just concluding for 2023, Charles Sturt Academic Dr. Ndungi wa Mungai, a senior lecturer in Social Work has penned his thoughts on what this may mean to men in the bush.

“We note the many challenges that have implications for health and behaviour which men in rural areas face as they try to navigate a rapidly changing world where brawn and rugged masculinity are no longer a valued asset,” said Dr. Mungai.

According to Dr. Mungai Natural disasters such as floods, droughts and extreme weather conditions make life on the land particularly stressful for men. The COVID-19 pandemic added to this list of stressors, and the rising cost of living only makes matters worse.

“Rural areas are geographically and culturally diverse, and it is challenging to generalise as peoples’ experiences are similarly diverse.”

“Common features in rural locations are typified by a dominance of employment opportunities in the masculinised industries of agriculture, mining, and forestry.

“While one thinks of ‘rural’ as farming communities, there are also small towns that serve as service centres for the farming communities. If the farmers are doing well, the rural towns are also likely to do well, but global markets and government and corporate policies also have significant impacts,” he said.

Limited social and health services in rural areas compared to metropolitan areas can be attributed to government policies. Similarly, the closing of banks and other commercial enterprises can be attributed to the respective corporations’ policies based on profitability of the businesses.

“Historically, the challenges to settling in rural areas have required men to be tough to overcome the adversities of ‘the bush’, as captured by the poet Dorothea Mackellar in the second stanza of her famous poem ‘My Country’ completed in 1908:

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.

“That is the romantic part of life outside the major cities. The other side of the coin has been an enduring problem of a white settler colonial masculinity where some men have traditionally viewed themselves as dominant to land, women, and First Nations people.”

What's gender got to do with it? 

Dr. Mungai says negative outcomes are caused by unequal gender relations citing violence against women, suicide among the men and marginalisation of the First Nations people.

Dr. Mungai believes that our rapidly changing world has been a significant challenge for white men, where equality is expected among genders and cultural groups, leaving these men feeling targeted as villains in this changing world.

“However, it is important that men - black and white - are also part of the solutions,” says Dr. Mungai.

“Men’s behavioural change programs aim to support men - both black and white - who have been involved in IPV (Intimate partner violence) to change behaviour, so they have respectful relations with their partners,” he said.

According to Dr. Mungai though, much more is needed than a few behavioural change programs for men already identified as being violent. He believes a more systemic education and behaviour and cultural change for boys and men.

“Respectful, peaceful and harmonious relations between genders and cultural groups would reduce the stress that is often a precursor to many mental and physical health problems. This requires a whole-of-community approach.”

Learning from the locals

Despite the fact he feels European colonising cultures have marginalised Indigenous knowledge and approaches, he believes there is a growing recognition of the wisdom that could assist Australia to navigate the challenges of the twenty first century.

“We can learn from the Wiradjuri philosophy of ‘yindyamarra winhanganha’ – the wisdom of knowing how to live well in a world worth living in.”

“The ‘ideal Australian masculinity’ myth of tough men who drink hard, play physically demanding sports, abuse drugs and alcohol with abandon, and keep women and less masculine men in check is inaccessible to most men, and is toxic at any rate.”

"Men have to review how this worldview harms their health. Failure to achieve this mythical masculinity leads to frustration, depression, violent outbursts, and suicide," Dr Mungai says.

 “Men identify with their jobs and their role as providers. A threat to jobs threatens their masculinity and self-worth. Whether the men are factory workers or famers, the loss of livelihood can lead to a potential situation of depression and suicide.”

Feeling neglected

Dr. Mungai noted that men felt their health matters were neglected and despite the fact the Cancer Council has stated that prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer, with more than 24,000 men being diagnosed in 2022 – one-in-six males by the time they are 85, most men feel they don’t receive as much attention as women's health matters, for example breast cancer.

“It is not productive to compare and compete when both diseases need resources,” said Dr. Mungai. “It took a lot of campaigns and education by women to achieve the current level of breast cancer awareness and research. And men can achieve the same if they work on the problem and raise awareness among men,” he said.

Recent data and notary from many commentators are of growing poor performance and achievements of boys in schools compared to girls. However, a closer inspection of those figures indicate that it is boys from poor and migrant and Indigenous backgrounds that are doing poorly.

With these results Dr. Mungai is convinced there is therefore need for attention to those segments of men and boys, rather than a broad generalisation.

With an increased media focus on boys and men’s health and behaviour via advertising, social media and the creation of programs in rural and metropolitan areas such as Men’s Sheds, gatherings for Men only and a push in Health organisations for men to ‘speak up’ and talk about their world, it appears that men are being taken more seriously and that men themselves, now feel more able to express what they need.

“Men need to be involved as part of the solution, as blaming them and pushing them into a corner could only lead to backlash and defensiveness.” said Dr. Mungai.

There are services that men can access if they need counselling or support:

Mensline Australia 1300 78 99 78

Men’s Shed Australia 1300 550 009

Lifeline 1311 14

Beyond Blue 1300 22 46 36