What does it mean to “be a man,” and how much does the answer change depending on where you live? The Atlas of Masculinity turns that question into something you can see, spin and compare.
The Atlas is an interactive companion to Masculinity Around the World, a research project by economists Pauline Grosjean, Ieda Matavelli, Ralph De Haas, and Victoria Baranov. Their Global Masculinity Survey asked around 125,000 people in 70 countries how strongly they hold to traditional expectations of men, such as self-reliance and reluctance to seek help, acceptance of violence, the drive to win, power over women, and avoidance of homosexuality. The Atlas presents those results country by country, alongside broader norms about gender roles and attitudes towards gender equality.
Rotate the globe, pick a country, and line it up against its neighbours or against places on the other side of the world. The patterns are striking. The research links stronger adherence to these norms with men working longer hours and earning more, but also with riskier health behaviour, poorer mental health, and greater support for strongman politics. It also finds that men who lived through war or recession in their formative years tend to hold these norms more tightly.
Whether you’re a researcher, a teacher, a journalist, or simply curious about how cultural norms shape men’s lives, the Atlas makes it possible to explore global data on the subject. And because the data can be downloaded, it can be useful for a classroom project, a deeper dive into a research project, or just trying to make sense of the world.
Visit atlasofmasculinity.org and see where your country sits on the map.