Why are so few psychologists male? Insights from a psychology trainee

Sep 2

This is the first of a two-part article. Part two will appear in the next issue of Male Psychology Magazine.

Around 80% of undergraduate psychology students are women. Men have less chance than women of getting onto clinical psychology training course (DClinPsy), and around 85% of clinical psychology trainees are women . Perhaps one of the reasons there are fewer men in psychology is that since the late 1980s boys have underperformed academically compared to girls across primary, secondary and higher education, especially white working-class boys. Young women today are now around 35% more likely to attend university than men, but vastly more likely to study psychology than men, suggesting that the low number of men studying psychology cannot be fully explained by general academic underperformance.

So why are men less likely to study psychology? I can’t speak for all men of course, but I think that my experiences might resonate with other men who have chosen to study psychology.

“I felt a bit like an antelope amongst 145 lionesses”

On my BSc Psychology course, only 11 out of 156 (7%) students were men. On my MSc course, only two out 17 (12%) students were men. During this time, when asking questions or discussing something specific to males, I was often shot down. I felt a bit like an antelope amongst 145 lionesses, and if I shared anything that was deemed to be ‘different’ to the experiences of my female colleagues, it was invalidated. After a while it started to make me feel that my views were not good enough, due to being male. This even made me question my own struggles with male specific issues. I then started to develop self-doubt and considered whether I was lacking emotional intelligence. This, combined with my other minority status at university – being working class - left me feeling that my voice wasn’t valid, and cancel culture became a real concern.

“If the situation was reversed, I would never dismiss the contributions from female colleagues purely because they were female and their experiences were different to my own.”

During my studies, I started to mature and thankfully had supportive lecturers who would help with group dynamics which enabled me, and my male colleagues, to express ourselves, and started to increase our confidence when contributing to group discussions. Not all female colleagues appeared anti-male, but a small handful certainly gave that impression. If the situation was reversed, I would never dismiss the contributions from female colleagues purely because they were female and their experiences were different to my own. Listening to others, whatever their gender, provides insight and personal growth and understanding. To deny other voices fuels ignorance, shallowness and arrogance, and creates an environment where people only listen until they see an opportunity to reply, rather than listening to learn.

On my degree programme the female and feminist views were predominant, and this left me feeling uncomfortable as a man. A lot of ideas seem to come from a desire for backlash against patriarchy, and the feeling that women were oppressed by men through the traditional family unit. From this perspective, men were perceived as needing to take a step back to allow women the space and the respect that they were previously denied.

Despite not achieving high grades for my GCSE’s and A-levels, I feel that since the start of university, I have been on par with my female peers, who are often very high achievers.

Regarding work and clinical experience, I have moved geographically in order to gain the experiences and education needed to position myself better to secure a place for clinical training. The biggest limiting factor over the past 10 years has been the low salary. Additionally, it took more than 87 applications before securing my first assistant psychologist position, which required me to develop resilience to keep striving for my career goals.

Throughout my early academic journey, into my PhD, and during each NHS clinical service position I have held, I have always been the only male or one of a very small handful of males (including senior management), which has been challenging. For example, both male and female patients were prepared to wait up to 11 weeks to access a male psychologist; on occasion I was the only male assistant psychologist able to assess and provide CBT. I completely understood the needs of these male patients; if for example I had a bad experience with a female psychologist or I just felt more comfortable with a man, I too would be prepared to wait for psychologist who was male. Being understood and receiving empathy from your psychologist is vital. If this connection is absent, there is no therapeutic alliance.

Thus far I have managed to gain voluntary positions from being on the radio, creating podcasts, publications and being able to secure a funded PhD (after my first application and was interviewed within 2 weeks), as well as having the opportunity to adapt and create CBT groups because my recovery rates within IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) were the highest in the service.

These opportunities came from enquiring and saying yes to opportunities and tasks I hadn’t done before, not as a result of 5 As at A-level, or achieving a first in my BSc and MSc, or due the fact that I am male. These opportunities came because of blood, sweat and tears.

“I was asked by the female clinical lead to train nine new female assistant psychologists regarding the secrets of how I was getting such high recovery rates from the CBT groups that I was conducting. Apart from two of the nine, the group just stared into space and one said “you aren’t senior to me, don’t know why I’m even here listening to you”.

For example, I was asked by the female clinical lead to train nine new female assistant psychologists regarding the secrets of how I was getting such high recovery rates from the CBT groups that I was conducting. Apart from two of the nine, the group just stared into space and one said “you aren’t senior to me, don’t know why I’m even here listening to you”. At the end, our female clinical lead walked in and the majority stowed away their phones and listened to every word she said. It wasn’t a pleasant experience and again, if I contributed to any collective discussion, it was either dismissed or ignored.

Final thoughts
Although a male applicant to clinical psychology might have lower grades on his CV than the female applicant, he might catch up later in other ways. In my case, despite not having the best GCSE’s and A-levels, I often had had more insight, experiences, impact and publications than my female peers, despite their higher grades. So although my female peers appear to sail through the DClinPsy process, being capable of expressing themselves clearly and confidently, they might later struggle with clinical assessments, conducting therapy, as well as the intensity of the research process.

The situation is complex and I do not believe that people with low grades should simply progress ahead of others based on their sex. However it seems reasonable that all of a person’s experiences, strengths, education and background should be taken into account, not just their school grades from 10+ years ago. A candidate who can see a wide range of client groups - including having innate insight into the relatively hard-to-reach male demographic - and can be flexible, resilient, provide effective therapy, conduct innovative research and lead services, surely then demonstrates the wide range of skills and attributes that should be valued by employers and patients.

It is understandable that more women than men become clinical psychologists, because more women are applying. But why are so few men are applying? General educational underachievement surely plays a role, but it doesn’t explain the vast gender gap between the number of male and female clinical psychologists. This question deserves equal priority to the lack of representation in psychology of ethnic groups and people with disabilities, especially as men are more likely than women to die by suicide but less likely than women to seek professional help.

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