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A new global disparity between genders is emerging
The ideological views of young men and young women are diverging, and the potential consequences could have significant implications.
Voters arrive to cast their ballots in the New Hampshire presidential primary election at a polling location at Memorial High School in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S., January 23, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Segar
One of the well-established trends in public opinion is the tendency of each generation to move strongly in terms of politics and overall ideology. Members of a generation typically share common formative experiences, achieve major life milestones simultaneously, and interact in similar spaces.
Gender divergence in political ideology
Therefore, how do we interpret reports suggesting that Generation Z is highly progressive on certain issues but surprisingly conservative on others? The explanation lies in the great gender divergence among today’s individuals under the age of thirty, with young women leaning toward progressivism and young men toward conservatism. Generation Z comprises two distinct sub-generations, not just one.
Across countries on every continent, an ideological divide has emerged between young men and women. Despite sharing the same cities, workplaces, classrooms, and even homes, tens of millions of people no longer share common perspectives.
Impact of #MeToo movement on political affiliations
In the United States, Gallup data indicates that, after decades of relatively equal distribution across liberal and conservative worldviews, women aged 18 to 30 are now 30% more liberal than their male counterparts. This gap developed over just six years.
Similarly, in Germany, there is now a 30-point gap between increasingly conservative young men and progressive female peers. In the United Kingdom, the gap is 25 points. Last year in Poland, almost half of men aged 18-21 supported the hard-right Confederation party, compared to only a sixth of young women in the same age group.
Beyond Western countries, more pronounced divisions are evident. In South Korea and China, a substantial gap has emerged between young men and women. Tunisia in Africa reflects a similar pattern. Significantly, this striking divergence is either unique to the younger generation in each country or more pronounced among individuals under thirty than in those aged thirty and above.
Technological influences: social media and ideological divides
The catalyst for this divergence was the #MeToo movement, which instilled fiercely feminist values in young women, empowering them to speak out against longstanding injustices. This spark found fertile ground, particularly in South Korea, where gender inequality is prevalent, and outright misogyny is widespread.
In the country’s 2022 presidential election, while older men and women voted uniformly, young men overwhelmingly supported the right-wing People Power party, and young women endorsed the liberal Democratic party in nearly equal and opposing numbers.
While Korea’s situation is extreme, it serves as a cautionary tale for other countries about the potential consequences when young men and women diverge. Korean society is deeply divided, with a plummeting marriage rate and a precipitous decline in the birth rate, reaching 0.78 births per woman in 2022, the lowest globally.
Global trends in gender divergence
Seven years after the initial #MeToo movement, the gender divergence in attitudes has become self-sustaining. Survey data indicate that in many countries, the ideological differences extend beyond the issue of sexual harassment. The clear progressive-conservative divide on sexual harassment appears to have contributed, or at least is part of, a broader realignment of young men and women into conservative and liberal camps on various issues.
In the US, UK, and Germany, young women now hold significantly more liberal positions on immigration and racial justice compared to young men, while older age groups remain evenly matched. While the trend in most countries is women shifting left while men stay put, there are indications that young men in Germany are actively moving to the right. The under-30s in Germany are more opposed to immigration than their elders and have shifted towards the far-right AfD in recent years.
The proliferation of smartphones and social media exacerbates this situation, as young men and women increasingly inhabit separate spaces and experience distinct cultures.
