Earlier last week, Gavin Newsome released an executive order that addressed a number of concerns in the state of California, including support of boys and men. The order was not specific to boys and men, but the greater portion of the executive order did focus on specific concerns regarding boys and men’s well-being (mental health) and ways to help them find purpose through meaningful careers and education.

While the early part of the order addressed programs that recognize racial, female, and marginalized groups, the Governor’s order did assertively address the challenges of boys and men when it came to suicide, overdose, education, careers, and other areas of concern. Because there is such great disparity in these areas for boys and men, Governor Newsom acknowledged that “it is therefore in the best interest of all of us to broaden opportunities for success and address the disparities in outcomes for men and boys.”

Some are hailing this as a step in the right direction, but it is critical to note that the executive order falls short of creating a California Commission on the Status of Boys and Men. A commission that does exist for women and girls has received millions of dollars in funding over the last few years alone, something addressed on page 24 of the most comprehensive report on the Status of Boys and Men in California and released by the Global Initiative for Boys and Men in the fall of 2024.1 Governor Pat Brown established the California Commission on the Status of Women in 1965 as an advisory board before it was made a permanent state agency in 1971 under Governor Ronald Reagan. The word “girls” was added to the title of the commission in 2012, even though girls were part of its mission prior to 2012.

No action has been taken in California, or any state, to create a Commission on the Status of Boys and Men, even as the challenges in California and nationwide have existed for decades and the Democratic party has created dozens of programs at the state and federal level for women and girls.

Many of my friends and acquaintances, on the left and the right, have their reservations and see the Governor’s action as a necessary step in a presidential run and cover for a Democratic party that lost men across all racial groups in 2024 and lost married women as well.

A good observation worth noting in the executive order is the apparent leaning on the work of Richard Reeves, President of the newly formed American Institute for Boys and Men. For those of us who read authors in this field, the language in many portions of this order feel like excerpts directly from Reeves’ work Of Boys and Men, a book that earned its way onto former President Obama’s summer reading list in 2024 and has made Reeves a favorite go-to in the mainstream press, as Reeves continues to add important data and influence policymakers regarding male outcomes as he continues to try and sway the left.

There are also some concerns in the executive order that, although well intentioned, conflate data or racialize data in ways that miss the underlying problems. Acknowledging in the executive order that “disparities and poor outcomes…vary across demographic groups: college enrollment and employment challenges are most acute for Black men, while the suicide crisis is most severe for white men” is somewhat true but often misleading, especially if we compare males to males. That school of thought misses the broader context: sex differences matter more than race.

• All males of all races are behind their female counterparts in K-12 and college education nationwide and often across racial groups, something noted in chapter 23 of Boys, A Rescue Plan, a book I coauthored with New York Times best-selling author and Gurian Institute founder Michael Gurian, PhD.
  • Also see the educational California data on pages 5-12 of the California Report on the Status of Boys and Men.
• All males of all races die of suicide, overdose, and alcohol at far greater rates in California than their female counterparts and across racial lines, data you can see on pages 14-16 of the California Report on the Status of Boys and Men.
• Boys and girls from dad-deprived homes have a more difficult time in school and life, not in all cases of course, but in the aggregate.

The phrase dad-deprived boys was used by Warren Farrell, PhD, in his book the Boy Crisis, a topic he tried to get more Democrats and Republicans to pay attention to and a reason he believes Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election. Looking at 2024 and soon 2026, it looks like more of the same.

Farrell, Gurian, Christina Hoff Summers, Leonard Sax, Michael Thompson, and others like the psychologist Mark Sherman, social worker Tom Golden, Laurie A. Couture, LLC, social influencer Lisa Britton, and I have been addressing these issues for decades. Groups like the National Coalition for Men and so many other groups have been calling on political change.

Some of these names are larger than others, but all of them are well versed and have made inroads and impact—often despite massive political opposition and what I refer to in a piece two weeks ago as the Culture of Malicious Legislating.

In truth, A California Commission on the Status of Boys and Men would certainly help if it was governed by the right people who understand these issues, have had success implementing programs while measuring outcomes, and come from both sides of the political aisle.

For now, so much of this rhetoric seems like a lot of talk and not a lot of action that looks at equality under the law as the guiding principle. This sudden interest in boys and men, coming from the left, feels like a necessity and not a moral and ethical obligation. And without moral and ethical tethers, political ideas are merely transient conveniences—a fleeting sunset with all its temporary beauty but a reminder that it has no permanency.

So I suppose this leaves us where we started: Is this a political stunt or a move toward real change?

Editor’s note: I have already reached out to the Governor’s office to discuss the California Report on the Status of Boys and Men and am asking if they will move forward with a California Commission on the Status of Boys and Men to equal the scope and measure of the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. I encourage all Californians to do the same.

Tags: Commission on the Status of Boys and Men, Commission on the Status of Men and Boys, Commission on the Status of Women, Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, Governor Newsom, national coalition for men, Sean Kullman