For years now, falling birth rates have been a subject of alarm, with most of that discussion focused on women — the factors preventing them from having kids, whether mothers can balance work and family, if feminism has led women astray.

But what about men and what they think?

Demographers focused on fertility trends have largely ignored men’s attitudes toward gender, caregiving, and relationships. We have far less data on men’s perspectives than women’s and even less on how those viewpoints shape outcomes.

But, men do have opinions on these topics, even if we haven’t examined them all that closely. American men are more likely to see falling birth rates as a problem, for example, and also more likely to want a return to “traditional gender roles.” Nearly six in 10 men favor such a return, according to recent polling from the 19th News, compared to just four in 10 women. Among Republican men, that figure stood at 87 percent.

These attitudes aren’t just showing up in polls — they’re shaping policy and discourse. A growing number of conservatives have started to publicly lament that women’s equality may have been a bridge too far, with some calling for an end to no-fault divorce or suggesting it’s time to get rid of women’s right to vote. Even the New York Times, a mainstream and liberal publication, recently ran a segment titled, “Did Women Ruin the Workplace?” discussing whether women have made professional culture too emotional and unserious.

It’s easy to feel like men and masculinity have gotten plenty of attention already, and there has certainly been reticence on the left to centering men’s desires at all. It’s not hard to understand these reservations. Men have been prioritized for most of human history, and still dominate positions of power.

But, understanding men’s attitudes remains essential. Everyone wants identity and purpose. For many men, these basic needs can manifest through a desire to feel masculine, and so their attitudes toward gender and caregiving are shaped by these deeper beliefs about what it means to be a man. If caregiving is seen as overly feminine work that diminishes masculinity, men will resist it.

For anyone who cares about gender equality, about women being able to find partners they want, or about people who want families being able to build them, ignoring what men think and need guarantees failure on every front.

It’s not just about chores

When it comes to gender equality and babies, activists and politicians have long argued that more of the first would lead to more of the second. Or, as a former Tory minister in the United Kingdom once quipped, “Feminism is the new natalism.” The optimistic theory was that, if men stepped up, and egalitarian policies like paid leave became more widespread, birth rates would rise.

There’s some truth to this, in the sense that research suggests a lack of gender equality makes the birth rate fall even faster.

Today, women with economic independence........

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