With every sexual harassment scandal that hits, I feel all the emotions: anger, betrayal, heartbreak that something I vaguely sensed turns out to really be true. I also feel a growing sense of fear—not for me, but for my kids. How do I shape my son into a man who respects women and treats them as equals? Is it possible for him to breathe society’s misogynistic air every day without succumbing? How do I instill in my daughter the confidence, resolve, and resilience to thrive in a culture that will incessantly push her down?

Kids (and grown-ups) crave connection — it’s a human response, not a gender-specific one. Although this wasn’t shocking to me, it has been incredible to see just how tender and caring boys can be in their play. We’ve seen several adorable bedtime rituals including images of sweet tuck-ins with capes placed neatly on the rail of the bed, ready for the next day, tons of boys pretending to be “daddy” or “big brother,” hugs and kisses galore, boys comforting their dolls, or rather buddies, during thunderstorms, and some super-cool homemade carrying slings.

A female high school student who had the best score at a boys’ golf tournament in Massachusetts has been denied the trophy because she’s a girl. Lunenburg High School student Emily Nash’s score of 75 at the Central Massachusetts Division 3 boys’ golf tournament was better than the runner-up. But Nash wasn’t awarded first place and won’t advance to next week’s state tournament because of a rule set by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. The rule states that girls playing on a fall boys’ team can’t be entered in the Boys Fall Individual Tournament.

"The study found that girls are more disadvantaged in co-ed classes because of factors such as boys' disruptive behaviour or a teacher's attention being diverted to boys," Ms Bridge said. "But boys are also disadvantaged, contrary to commonly held belief that boys do better in co-ed environment, boys' academic performance also suffers in a co-ed environment."

Casal’s club is inclusive. “These guys and girls here — even though they are of different ages or abilities, when they come here, none of that matters, We’re all in it together,” he continues, his eyes still on the group. Champion’s built at Casal’s are both male and female, of varying ages, ethnicities and capabilities and come from a wide variety of backgrounds. There is no sense of shyness, arrogance or ego present, just a comfortable respect for one another. “They challenge themselves and learn what can happen if you work hard and the best part is, look at them,” he said, pointing to the ring, a boyish grin on his face. “It’s hard, really hard and they still have fun doing it.”

An uneven gender balance has long been observed in parts of Asia, particularly China, India and South Korea. In those countries it is usually a result of the higher cost of bringing up girls — expensive dowries must be found in order to marry them or else they remain dependent on the family. In recent years, however, demographers have been struck by the emergence of a similarly skewed pattern in the Caucasus and the Balkans.

"I hear the statement “Boys will be boys” far too often. When my son is misbehaving and I’m trying to help him understand why his behavior is not acceptable, another parent might chime in with the statement. As a feminist and an attachment parent, I find the statement and its partner (“You know how boys are.”) to be among the worst things we can say to or about a boy. It’s fatalistic. It implies that boys are inherently problematic. Sometimes it’s said about something minor and silly; sometimes it’s said about something major. But it’s always said to casually dismiss inappropriate behavior."

But more importantly, girl empowerment cannot begin until we raise our boys to be feminists. This implies boys who believe that feminism does not mean feminine, it means equality. Girl empowerment needs a healthy ecosystem of boy feminists. Of boys who believe in equality as much as girls do. Of boys who are in touch with their feminine side - who are unafraid to cry, who can be friends with girls, who are raised to believe that strong and sensitive are not mutually exclusive. Who believe that equal work merits equal pay and vice versa.

While sport and media were the places where girls felt most inequality, the report also found 86% of the girls said they were just as good at sport as boys. While 95% of 10 to 14 year-old girls and 96% of 15-17 year-old girls said they were just as good at being leaders as boys, 40% of them believed gender inequality was the biggest barrier to them becoming a leader.

Clearly, more work needs to be done to achieve true gender equality. I would argue that an essential next step is to shift a significant part of our focus to boys. After all, they hold up half the sky, and they have benefited far less from evolving gender norms in the past half century than have girls.

“[We’ll be] looking at our role as men in ending gender-based violence, what it means to be an ally to women in this work and recognizing that these really rigid notions of masculinity that society places on us, that we sometimes place on ourselves, are really harmful to men’s mental and emotional and physical health. They are things that aren’t talked about a lot.”