David Maywald

Passionate about my family, sustainability, lifelong learning, and making a positive difference ☀ Board Member and Father ツ Thankful to live on Ngunnawal land

[TheTinMen @TheTinMenBlog]

Boys are behind at every level of education, in every area, at every age, and in every country in the west, with a few small exceptions.

You might be reading this for the first time, but this is not a new thing.

In fact, boys have been quietly falling further and further behind girls for more than 35 years, and now, are even further behind in education than women were 50 years ago.

Yet, if we ever do hear this discussed, it’s only to suggest that ‘boys need to try harder’.

But that is not the problem.

Boys are trying, the problem is, the way school educates and grades children, systemically discriminates against them.

We saw this when the UK cancelled exams during COVID, with the so-called ‘girl bonus’.

Where girls that were performing equally well to boys, now through the lens of teacher assessments, suddenly rocketed ahead.

We saw the same when we transitioned from the objective exams of O-levels, to the subjective assessments of GCSEs.

And we saw it again, when the OECD documented the same teacher bias across more than 60 countries, stating the gap “had little to do with ability”.

Yes, it’s true.

Teachers (of both sexes) are biased against boys, and until that changes, nothing else will.

So – who will dare talk about systemic sexism against boys?

What do you think?

~
Talking with Big Bros podcast https://t.co/khUUdp2NAP

Education gap data
https://t.co/zvDgX9yHSA

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

Thank you to the News Corporation papers for shining a national spotlight on what it’s like being a boy in Australia in 2026.

The article on raising boys contains a striking and troubling observation: some parents are already fearful of what their baby boys might become, influenced by a culture saturated with negative messages about men and masculinity. One mother reportedly asked “How do I stop my son from becoming a monster?”

But boys aren't problems to be solved. They are precious children to be loved, guided, challenged and believed in...

Most boys will grow into decent, caring, responsible men. They will become fathers, husbands, brothers, friends, volunteers, workers, leaders and protectors. They will build homes, businesses, communities and futures. They deserve to grow up knowing that their strengths are valued and that their potential is enormous.

The answer isn't to raise boys from a place of fear. As parenting educator Genevieve Muir observes, what boys need is love, not suspicion or anxiety. Boys need strong boundaries, positive role models, encouragement, purpose, responsibility, belonging and opportunities to contribute.

At a time when many boys are struggling in education, mental health and social connection, the most powerful message we can give them is simple:

We believe in you.

We believe your energy is an asset. We believe your masculinity is a force for good. We believe you are capable of courage, kindness, self-discipline and service. And we believe Australia will be stronger when boys and young men are thriving alongside girls and young women.

Every great man was once a little boy who needed someone to see the good in him, before he could see it in himself.

Let's make sure today's boys hear that message loud and clear.

#BoysMatter #RaisingBoys #Masculinity #SupportingBoys #FutureMen #SocialCohesion

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

Biased anti-male suicide policies slammed by Senator Tyron Whitten. https://t.co/O1O4Ahr8sF via @YouTube

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

Are We Still Human If Robots Help Raise Our Babies? | Sarah Blaffer Hrdy... https://t.co/Ts4cfC8dRv via @YouTube

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

VAWA Coerced Your Family Courts https://t.co/ZwUMVsToCo via @YouTube

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

Here are a series of recent wins for religious freedom in Australia, care of Freedom for Faith...

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

This morning I attended the launch of the inaugural Australian Christian Freedom Index at Parliament House in Canberra. ACFI is landmark research, which gauges the persecution of Christians within Australia and the prevalent discrimination against them.

The report provides a comprehensive baseline measure of Christian freedom in Australia, drawing on survey data from more than 10,800 Christians, legislative analysis of 74 Acts across all jurisdictions, and 40 documented case studies.

Among its findings were concerns about increasing pressure felt by many Christians to remain silent about their beliefs in workplaces, education, healthcare, online spaces, and public life. 92% of respondents felt that it’s riskier to affirm Christian beliefs publicly than it was five years ago. The Index also highlights the growing complexity of balancing religious freedom, anti-discrimination law, pluralism, and competing rights within a modern liberal democracy.

Regardless of where people stand on questions of faith, religion, or public policy, freedom of religion and freedom of conscience remain important pillars of a free society. Healthy democracies require space for respectful disagreement, robust debate, and the peaceful expression of deeply held beliefs.

I appreciated the opportunity to attend the launch, hear directly from contributors and parliamentarians, and engage with these important questions. The launch featured speeches from Senator Deborah O'Neill (Labor), Llew O'Brien MP (Liberal National Party), and Senator Malcolm Roberts (One Nation). The summit included rich engagement with Senator Matt Canavan (Leader of the Nationals) and Barnaby Joyce MP (former Deputy Prime Minister and key strategist for One Nation).

These conversations matter; not only for Christians, but for all Australians who value freedom, fairness, diversity of belief, and a society capable of navigating differences with wisdom and goodwill.

Watch the launch replay: https://t.co/vaOBp1tk4B

Download the report: https://t.co/OWOhF3RZr3

Read the announcement from Canberra Declaration: https://t.co/OZoNAv5bUo

@TheCanDec

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

Last night St Thomas More Parish held their 21st Annual Dinner, and the speaker was His Eminence Cardinal Mykola Bychok from Melbourne. The main theme of this lecture was on the importance of families, to all areas of society. Cardinal Bychok also spoke about his close connections to the Catholic Church in Ukraine, which was very moving.

In October 1997, during a General Audience, Pope John Paul II said that “Whoever promotes the development of the family promotes the development of the person; whoever attacks the family attacks the person.” These words, spoken almost 30 years ago, are extremely relevant today. Today, when society is experiencing a profound moral crisis, it is precisely around the family and life that the decisive struggle for the human person and his dignity is unfolding.

The teachings of the Church have repeatedly emphasised that a strong family is the foundation of a healthy society. It is in the family that a person first discovers God, learns to pray, and learns to respect their neighbours, their native land, and their Church. All of this is part of the deep spiritual roots that the family passes on to its children. Therefore, the family is not just a “centre of formation” but a source of Christian tradition and spiritual continuity between generations.

His Eminence Cardinal Mykola Bychok was consecrated as a Bishop in 2020, and elevated to the dignity of a Cardinal in 2024 by His Holiness Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. His current role is to serve as Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne for Ukrainian Catholics in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania.

This event held in the Inner North of Canberra was a sell-out, with a very diverse audience that appeared to be split equally to women and men. There was healthy discussion and debate, along with a warm reception.

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

Thank you to the News Corporation papers and journalists Darcy Fitzgerald, Susie O'Brien, Lauren Novak, and Will Paige for publishing a three-part series of articles on what it’s like being an Aussie boy in 2026, starting today with educating boys...

For too long, the struggles of boys and young men have been minimised, caricatured, or simply ignored. So it matters when major national media outlets take a serious look at the realities facing boys across education, parenting, culture, and online life.

The data are confronting. Boys lag girls across most educational indicators, are more likely to be suspended or expelled, more likely to be identified with disability or behavioural issues, more likely to disengage from school, and far less likely to commence university. Yet the simplistic story that boys are somehow “dumber, naughtier or more broken” does not withstand scrutiny.

Importantly, these articles move beyond blame. They explore biological and developmental differences, school culture, teaching approaches, student voices, and practical pathways forward. They ask a crucial question: are we designing educational environments that genuinely work for boys, or expecting boys to conform to systems that often struggle to accommodate how many of them learn, behave, and develop?

The reporting also touches on difficult but necessary debates: the role of ideology in schooling, the changing landscape of single-sex and co-educational education, and what different models may mean for boys’ outcomes and wellbeing.

This conversation is overdue.

Caring about boys does not mean caring less about girls. It means recognising that our sons, brothers, students, nephews, and young men are precious too; and that persistent educational disparities deserve the same seriousness, compassion, and evidence-based response that we would rightly demand for any other group.

Australia needs more honest discussion, better research, male-positive and evidence-based reforms, and a willingness to listen to educators, parents, experts, and to boys themselves...

I look forward to the next two instalments: raising boys and the impact of influencers. If we want healthier, more capable, more grounded young men, then these are conversations our country needs to have.

Boys in crisis: How Australia’s school system can lift up our young men – instead of dragging them down
https://t.co/HWTi7v5xaS

Single-sex schooling is in decline as parents and new schools alike go co-ed – but what do their academic results reveal?
https://t.co/AwnLUVF1kJ

Education system becoming ‘pipeline of indoctrination’, new book warns
https://t.co/bhTKbuk4I5

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

The Forgiveness Cross at the Heart of Australia, by Harvest Journeys:
https://t.co/hsmq5sbouy

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

There's a little-known symbol of unity and hope in the heart of Australia. The Forgiveness Cross stands atop Memory Mountain (Kurrkalnga Puli) and was launched at Easter in 2023. And a reminder that half of Indigenous people are Christian.

Near Haasts Bluff, around 230 km west of Alice Springs, this extraordinary 20-metre Cross of core-ten steel rises from the red earth of central Australia. A vision that was decades in the making, led by Aboriginal elders and traditional owners of Ikuntji Country, and brought to life through collaboration, generosity, faith, and determination...

Its name matters deeply.

Not victory. Not power. Not resentment. But forgiveness.

Forgiveness is among the hardest and most transformative words in the human vocabulary. It doesn't deny truth, pain, injustice, or responsibility. Rather, it opens the possibility of healing, reconciliation, humility, mercy, and a new beginning. In a fractured age marked by division, loneliness, grievance, and mistrust, the word forgiveness carries a profound challenge: to examine our own hearts, to repair relationships, and to live with courage, grace, and purpose...

The Forgiveness Cross is also a remarkable example of collaboration with Indigenous Australians. Local elders, supporters from different Christian traditions, community leaders, artists, pilgrims, and donors worked together to create something enduring: a place of welcome, reflection, faith, opportunity, and encounter.

There's something deeply moving about a giant Cross standing on sacred Country at the centre of our continent. Not as a symbol of domination, but as an invitation.

An invitation to faith. To service. To principled lives. To forgiveness freely given and humbly received.

May we cherish this gift from the people of Ikuntji. And may more Australians discover this powerful reminder that unity and transformation don't begin in institutions or slogans; they begin in the human heart...

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

Memory Mountain Highlights - Launch of the Forgiveness Cross at Easter 2023, from Vision Christian Media:
https://t.co/i96HF1c1bY
@VisionMediaAU

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

Memory Mountain Highlights - Launch of the Forgiveness Cross 2023 https://t.co/jvKvBF0hZq via @YouTube

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

Notes on Being A Man by Scott Galloway has been a remarkable success: commercially, culturally, and in its ability to capture attention. And that matters. In a public conversation where boys and men are too often ignored, caricatured, or treated as an embarrassment, Scott Galloway has used his platform, communication skills, and blunt style to force these issues into the mainstream.

The book is concise, personal, and accessible. Drawing on his own life, career, failures, fatherhood, and observations of modern society, Galloway speaks directly to young men about purpose, discipline, relationships, work, health, and meaning. He deserves credit for articulating what many people can see but few are willing to say publicly: too many boys and men are drifting, disconnected, underperforming, and struggling to find a clear path into adulthood.

In many respects, Galloway nails the diagnosis. He understands the economic, educational, technological, and cultural headwinds facing young men. He is particularly effective at explaining why so many males feel alienated, lonely, or left behind.

But diagnosis isn't the same as prescription.

Where the book is strongest in identifying problems, it's weaker in setting out robust, evidence-based solutions. The recommended responses can feel individualised, motivational, and somewhat thin relative to the scale and complexity of the challenges being described. Personal responsibility matters enormously, but institutions, policy, education systems, family structures, and cultural narratives matter too.

A second criticism concerns influence versus achievements. Galloway has generated huge numbers of eyeballs and valuable public attention. Yet compared with leaders such as Richard Reeves and Mark Brooks, there is less of the painstaking policy development, evidence synthesis, institutional reform work, and practical architecture for change...

That's not to diminish his contribution. Powerful communicators are essential. But the next phase of this journey requires not only compelling diagnosis and viral reach, but also deeper scholarship, durable frameworks, and tangible pathways toward better outcomes for boys and men.

Even so, Notes on Being A Man is worth reading; especially because it has helped legitimise a conversation that desperately needs wider engagement...

@profgalloway

[Sall Grover @salltweets]

Literally the only pre-requisite to be a “transwoman” is be a man.

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

Men's Leadership Summit 2026 - Get In Early https://t.co/18ER6hg5ZY via @YouTube

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

In late May, I attended The Gathering held by the Centre for Men & Families Australia, a two-day experience that's directly grounded in the teachings and writings of Richard Rohr.

It was a powerful reminder of the enormous contributions that Rohr has made, not only for men and boys, but for Christians across all denominations, and for many people seeking a deeper, more grounded spirituality...

Based in New Mexico, Rohr has spent decades challenging shallow, performative, and overly intellectual approaches to faith. His work calls people toward humility, self-awareness, contemplation, compassion, and transformation. He speaks openly about suffering, shadow, ego, forgiveness, belonging, and what it means to mature spiritually.

For men especially, Rohr’s impact has been profound. Through books such as From Wild Man to Wise Man, Adam’s Return, Falling Upward, and The Divine Dance, he has helped huge numbers of men to navigate purpose, identity, fatherhood, loss, work, relationships, aging, and the search for meaning. Rather than caricaturing masculinity, he invites men into healthy initiation, responsibility, service, emotional honesty, and spiritual depth...

His framework of male initiation (moving from ego and performance toward wisdom, generativity, and love) has influenced men’s groups, retreats, ministries, families, and communities around the world.

In an age of division, polarisation, loneliness, anxiety, ideological tribalism, and spiritual confusion, Rohr’s voice remains distinctive: deeply Christian, Franciscan, contemplative, psychologically informed, and profoundly human.

You don't have to agree with all of his theology, to see that his legacy is undeniably massive. He has helped countless people (including many men who might otherwise have disengaged from faith or community) to encounter spirituality not as domination, dogma, or image management, but as a pathway toward truth, healing, maturity, and love.

That's a remarkable contribution, and certainly worth celebrating.

[Senator Sarah Henderson @SenSHenderson]

Chris Bowen, the self-declared COP President of Negotiations, sent bureaucrats to Fiji at a cost of almost $50k to organise an international climate conference. We were assured this wouldn’t cost more than $147 million!

Australians should not be copping this in a cost-of-living crisis when Labor’s toxic taxes are threatening the livelihoods of so many Australians.

➡️ https://t.co/PocjOa3r7n

#BudgetEstimates

[David Maywald @DavidMaywald]

Why 92% Of CHRISTIANS Say Australia Has Changed https://t.co/A3Y1BfWbBO via @YouTube

[Senator Sarah Henderson @SenSHenderson]

The ABC’s shock decision to employ as a podcast host Grace Tame, who described corroborated reports of Hamas’ sexual violence against Israeli women as ‘propaganda’ which had been ‘debunked’ and led a pro-Palestine rally chanting ‘globalise the intifada’, is untenable.

How can Australians be expected to trust the ABC when it hires a high-profile activist who spread false information about the barbaric October 7 terrorist attacks and engaged in conduct which promotes hostility towards Jewish people?

➡️ https://t.co/nSTokr28Ub