By Oluwatobi Aajiboso
According to statistics, males constitute about 50% of the population of Africa and about 82% of the workforce on the continent.
Africans are of the belief that men embody bravery, dominance and strength. According to Chika and Olayinka (2020), internalisation of masculine norms among men in Africa has made them susceptible to mental health problems.
In recent times, concerns have been raised by many analysts about the sudden increase in depression rate among males in the society. In fact, it was reported that men are four times more likely to die of depression than women. It is also imperative to note that depression is not the only thing that affects more males than females. Males are also known to be more involved in violent crimes than females.
Statistically, over 90% of suspects arrested for drug-related offences in 2015, 2016 and 2017 (92.7%, 93.5% and 93.8%) respectively were men, while women made up 7.3%, 6.5% and 6.2% of the arrests for the same years respectively. The phrase by Goodey in 1997 that “Boys do not cry and men do not shed tears “is associated with African society about what it expects from a typical male in a challenging situations. Associated with this phrase is a report by Etienne(2019) which claims that the likelihood of male children dying is higher compared to their female counterparts.
In Africa, a male child is expected to be competitive; hence, men are known to fight for social power which in turn has a detrimental effect on their general wellbeing and mental health. An example of this effect is hypertension which is caused by inadequate sleep.
The African society has made most men think of themselves as risk takers, thus encouraging more risky behaviours that can lead to death.
Societal pressure has been known to be a factor contributing to men’s mortality rate. The pressure to live up to expectation of society, the quest for affluence, influence, power, higher social status and the pressure to succeed and be a leader for their family have led a majority of men in Africa to engage in violent crimes, ritual killings, high risk sports, cultism, arm robbery, cybercrime etc. It is also pertinent to note that in their quest to attain higher social status, they engage in activities that are detrimental to their health such as excessive intake of alcohol, drug abuse and reckless driving.
