By Dr Ndungi wa Mungai (pictured, inset), Senior Lecturer in Social Work in the Charles Sturt School of Social Work and Arts. His current interest in men’s health has focussed on intimate partner violence (IPV) and the attempts to address it through men’s behaviour change programs.

As we mark Men’s Health Week 2023 (Monday 12 to Sunday 18 June) 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.

Natural disasters such as floods, droughts and extreme weather conditions make life on the land particularly stressful. 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.

My Charles Sturt colleague Dr Merrilyn Crichton and I note in a recent book chapter we co-authored (see Media Note at end) that 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.

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.

These unequal gender relations have negative outcomes including violence against women, suicide among the men and marginalisation of the First Nations people.

The rapidly changing world where equality is expected among genders and cultural groups has been a significant challenge for white men who feel targeted as the villains in this changing world.

However, it is important that men - black and white - are also part of the solutions.

Men’s behavioural change programs aim to support men - both black and white - who have been involved in IPV to change behaviour, so they have respectful relations with their partners.

Much more, though, is needed than a few behavioural change programs for men already identified as being violent. It should involve 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.

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

Indigenous knowledge and approaches have been marginalised by the European colonising cultures but there is a growing recognition of the wisdom that could help Australia navigate the challenges of the twenty-first century.

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.

Men also feel that their health matters are neglected. Men’s prostate cancer, for example, does not seem to receive as much attention as breast cancer for women. This is despite the Cancer Council of Australia noting that more than 24,000 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2022.

The Cancer Council also notes that prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia, affecting one-in-six males by the time they are 85.

However, it is not productive to compare and compete when both diseases need resources. It took a lot of campaigns and education by women to achieve the current level of breast cancer awareness and research.

Men can achieve the same if they work on the problem and raise awareness among men.

The growing poor performance and achievements of boys in schools compared to girls has also been shown by data and noted by many commentators. However, closer inspection of those figures indicate that it is boys from poor and migrant and Indigenous backgrounds that are doing poorly.

There is therefore need for attention to those segments of men and boys, rather than a broad generalisation.

COVID-19 and a looming global recession or economic slowdown present a challenge to men’s health and wellbeing.

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.

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.

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