Are Men Being Left Behind at UW-Madison?
Female students increasingly outnumber their male counterparts on campus.
Women made up 62 percent of incoming freshmen students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Fall 2025, according to the UW-Madison Office of the Registrar, reflecting broader trends in the UW System and across the United States. This imbalance persists across all major ethnic groups, and women have begun to outnumber men in the college-educated workforce.
As women increasingly outnumber men at UW-Madison, we should be asking what is happening with young men and how campus culture, expectations, and perceptions of masculinity may contribute to male disengagement.
In Of Boys and Men, Richard Reeves describes part of this shift in higher education enrollment as part of the “male malaise,” characterized by declining engagement, direction, and academic motivation among boys and young men. These changes reflect long-term social and educational shifts over recent years that are now becoming more visible in college enrollment stats.
“The gender gap at UW-Madison is not just about women’s success in education, but how young men may understand their role, motivations, and sense of belonging in today’s academic institutions.”
There are clear disparities that set girls ahead in early education, as Reeves notes. Girls, on average, are more likely to be school-ready at age five, while boys are significantly more likely to struggle across core academic subjects. Male teachers are also significantly outnumbered, as 77 percent of K-12 teachers are women. But an issue that extends beyond K-12 education, one which Reeves mentions himself, is the absence of clear expectations laid out for young men today.
Consequently, 70 percent of teenage girls saw value in college compared to 54 percent of teenage boys in 2025. This gap suggests a difference not just in academic performance, but in how young men and women are encouraged to view higher education in relation to their futures.
This is part of the problem, as Reeves describes. Young men are experiencing a “decline in agency, motivation and aspiration,” where young women have “motivation, independence, and persistence.”
Young women receive consistent messaging about their pursuit of higher education. Higher education isn’t just framed as an opportunity for women, but often as a necessity for career-driven success and financial independence. For young men, that encouragement and clearly outlined ideal is seemingly less persistent.
A UW-Madison student I spoke with anonymously shared his perspective and experience as a man who exhibits more “traditional” characteristics of masculinity. He described a sense of uncertainty about what’s expected of young men today, including on campus. He feels that traditional masculine roles often get chastised or shunned, affecting the ways some male students choose to present themselves and feel accepted among their peers.
Most neutral, though stereotypically masculine, aspects of his identity are often criticized or dismissed. Some of his interests, like being into trucks, hunting, and trap shooting, tend to be perceived through rigid political stereotypes that prompt judgements from certain peers. He quickly learned that being accepted on campus required downplaying his interests and sense of identity. When I asked him why he refrains from talking about it, he told me it’s because of a fear of being put down further. In a place where traditional masculinity is considered synonymous with conservative values, he often feels as though he’s constantly being surveilled.
This is just one student’s experience, but it reflects a larger issue surrounding how certain expressions of masculinity are perceived on campus and how they may shape young men’s engagement at UW-Madison. Campus politics often affect how gender roles, including masculinity, are perceived. Traditionally masculine traits and interests are not inherently problematic. But, as Reeves describes, our modern world offers little space for them, and in turn, their expression is often discouraged.
This is something I’ve witnessed from time to time on campus among female peers, comments about men that would likely be considered inappropriate if directed at other groups. They’re often passed as jokes from woman to woman, but there is almost always an underlying tone of criticism or irritation. It’s accepted because it’s become normalized, but it is dialogue that often sends a message: you’re not welcome here.
As the student from UW-Madison told me, he believes that traditional masculine roles are often perceived as misogynistic or dismissed when people fail to adopt a more progressive belief that these things can apply to both men and women in the modern age. The goal is not to reinstate rigid gender roles to give men a leg up, or to erase more traditional forms of masculinity in pursuit of new expectations, but to understand how to create space for it in a world -- and at UW-Madison -- where women have proven they are just as capable and just as willing to step into these roles.
The gender gap at UW-Madison is not just about women’s success in education, but how young men may understand their role, motivations, and sense of belonging in today’s academic institutions. Our broader culture needs to lead men through aspirations and clear expectations in the modern age. In turn, campuses like UW-Madison might benefit from assuring young men that they have a place here, whether it be through mentorship or better support systems, as students turn towards their futures and begin to understand their motivations for pursuing higher education.
Getting men in the door is one thing, but continuing to motivate them in pursuit of an ideal and welcoming their expression is another. The question is not why women are succeeding, but whether we are willing to think about what male disengagement might reveal about how we consider, or have failed to consider, young men.
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