Male Family Caregivers on the Rise (Blog 3/11/25)
Did you know that 40% (approximately 16 million) of the family caregivers in this country are men? It’s true. Although females still compose the majority (60%), the number of men involved in family caregiving has increased. In a previous blog in 2024, we covered the role of older women as family caregivers and their invaluable contributions toward helping to stabilize the care economy. We promised you that we would highlight the contributions of male caregivers in a later blog.
So, gentlemen, this one’s for you! In this blog we aim to spotlight the significant roles of husbands, sons, brothers, partners, friends, sons-in-law, grandsons and other men who are rising to meet the challenges of providing unpaid, family care to their loved ones. Keep in mind as you read this blog, gender aside, the work performed by all unpaid caregivers is vital to the stability of the care economy and critical in helping to maintain our family communities.
Who Are These Guys?
Let’s start by looking at some of the demographics related to male family caregivers in this country as follows:
The average age for male family caregivers is 47.8 years old.
Millennials compose 28% of male caregivers; the average age of this millennial group is around 27 years old.
About 56% of all male caregivers are married and 26% are single or have never been married.
Around 11% of all male caregivers identify as gay, transgender, or bisexual.
Men 55+ compose 12.2% and 21.6% of unpaid caregivers performing adult care and eldercare respectively. (Eldercare refers to individuals suffering from age-related illnesses such as dementia, sight and hearing diminishment, mobility difficulties, forgetfulness).
Men 62+ are more likely to care for a spouse or partner.
In short, just as with female family caregivers, male family caregivers represent a range of
diversity as they continue to undertake the challenges of work and caregiving responsibilities.
What Do Male Caregivers Do?
A quick response to this question is: Male caregivers do everything that female caregivers do. Over the years, a common misconception has been that men in the role of family caregiver have limited their services to providing transportation and handling the family finances. New research in this area suggests that this is not the case. Just like the women in these roles, men are assisting their loved ones with activities of daily life such as bathing, toileting, dressing, eating, maintaining the upkeep of the home and shopping. Additionally, male caregivers are increasingly performing nursing tasks including injections, wound care, administering intravenous fluids and giving oral medications.
We should mention here that this transition to engaging in personal care tasks has not come easy for most men, simply because they typically have less experience with these types of activities compared to women. In fact, over half of the men involved in performing personal care activities admit that they find it very difficult to assist their loved ones with their intimate care needs. Nevertheless, these guys are continuing to step up to the challenge.
Also, important to mention is that like women, almost half (49%) of all males involved in family caregiving feel that they were drafted into the role. They had no choice. When considered with the fact that most male caregivers are more likely to be holding down jobs (66%), compared to 55% of female caregivers, their conflicting work/caregiver roles often trigger feelings of inadequacy and being under-trained to carry out caregiving responsibilities. In fact, over half of male caregivers characterize their care experience as “moderate to very stressful.” And almost half of them have indicated that exercising their caregiving duties has caused them “moderate to severe” physical strain.
A Question for Employers
Do you know who your male (or female for that matter) family caregivers are? We’re asking this question because whether you realize it or not, this segment of your workforce (just as with female caregivers) is impacting your bottom line. For example, almost half of male caregivers (48%) admit to going to work late, leaving early, or taking time off to address their caregiving duties. About 15% say they have taken a leave of absence or switched from full-time to part-time schedules to care for their loved ones.
Other consequences of their caregiving conflicts include saying no to promotion opportunities, taking early retirement, or leaving the workforce altogether. If you know who your male family caregivers are, consider yourself fortunate because about a third of these men do not share their working caregiver status with their employers. And when we look at male millennial caregivers, that number rises significantly to 45% who are not talking.
All caregivers, regardless of their gender identity, need support in helping them meet their work and care responsibilities. As an employer, you may have resources or programs already in place that can be adjusted to meet your caregivers’ needs. If you are planning to wait until you have clearer indications that you are being affected by the struggles of these “working while caring” men. It may be too late. You already are.
Conclusion
The decision to become a working caregiver is a difficult undertaking, regardless of gender, age, and other demographics. Indeed, the day-to-day life of a working caregiver is filled with many challenges -- expected as well as unexpected. These challenges can be particularly overwhelming for men who must step up to perform caregiving tasks that have traditionally been handled by women. As our aging population continues to increase and our population of people available to care for them continues to decrease, we will see more men stepping into the working caregiver role. Despite their uneasiness, they continue to come forward to assist their loved ones in performing activities of daily life including intimate care activities.
The lines that have traditionally separated male and female duties have become increasingly blurred as more men come forward to do whatever it takes to care for their spouses, partners, parents, grandparents, etc. This will continue to be the case well into the foreseeable future. So, just as we recommended with our female caregivers, let’s take every opportunity to help uplift and encourage these male caregivers as they struggle through this often-unfamiliar territory of family caregiving. Bravo gentlemen!
Until the next blog!
Thank you for being here, for reading and for caring!
References
AARP Public Policy Institute, Breaking Stereotypes: Spotlight on Male Family Caregivers, Jean Accius, PHD, March 2017.
U.S. Department of Labor, News Release, Unpaid Eldercare in the United States – 2012 -2021, Data from the American Time Use Survey, September 21, 2023.