The recent UCCF leadership training course, FORUM, raised the intriguing question: ‘Where have all the men gone?’ Members of Exeter University CU had become aware of an imbalance in the ratio of males to females in the CU. It was suggested that once the ratio exceeded 40:60 in the CU then the situation could escalate as people tend to evangelise to those of the same gender. Is this problem occurring in the majority of UK Universities? If so, why, and what can be done to reverse the trend?

When men enter a female dominated CU they are more likely to feel outnumbered and are less likely to stay committed to the CU. If a CU has few men, then the women are forced to take positions of leadership. This may intimidate men, particularly if the leadership is very strong. When large numbers of women are present, the social activities and evangelistic techniques tend to be more feminine, again deterring men.

This situation could also have long term implications for the church in general. Who will the women marry? Who will evangelise to the men? If readers agree that this is a potential problem, then being aware can help to start turning things around. We can pray that God will reverse the trend. We can promote biblical teaching on manhood. Perhaps our CUs can have mens’ weekends away or mens’ prayer breakfasts. Football teams and other sports tournaments could be used to encourage male CU members to get alongside non-Christians and show them that Christianity is not incompatible with university life.

Let’s hope and pray that this is not a problem which will escalate in our CUs and churches. I would like to encourage readers to pray that God will raise up more male Christian leaders in our generation.

Sarah Davies, Medical student, ICSM at St Mary’s

Editor's Reply

There are currently 922 student members of CMF, of which 61.3% are female and 38.7% are male. These figures were reflected at the 1998 National Students’ Conference, where 65.2% of attendees were women and 34.8% were men.

By way of comparison, 54% of UK medical school applicants in both 1996 and 1997 were female.

The proportion of male CMF members is lowest in Cardiff, at just 16.7% and highest at University College Cork, at 73%. However, readers are reminded that these statistics do not take into account the overall ratio of men to women in these medical schools.

Finally, you may note that 83.33% of the current Nucleus team are female. We will be seeking to recruit new committee members at the National Students’ Conference this January. Men, you have been warned!