One in three people around the world believe childcare responsibilities damage a woman’s career more than a man’s

A new global study carried out in 30 countries by Ipsos in collaboration with the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London for International Women’s Day shows that:

• People believe that women are more likely to be judged in the workplace in relation to family and caring responsibilities, and just under half think workplaces treat men and women equally
• Men are less likely to recognise issues facing women as well as institutional bias against women – men are more likely to think educational and health services treat women better than men

Ipsos Public Affairs Director, Jess Elgood, said: “The high-profile examples of gender inequality in Australia over the last couple of years seem to have had an impact on the number of Australians defining themselves as feminists. However, the findings from this survey suggest that many Australian men don’t recognise some of the challenges women face both in family life and in the workplace.”

While the proportion of people defining themselves as a feminist has increased, opposition to feminism persists, particularly amongst men

Key Australian findings

• 45% of Australians consider themselves a feminist, up 13 points since 2019. Australian women are significantly more likely than men to say they are a feminist (49% and 41%, respectively).
• Only a third (35%) of Australians agree that things have gone far enough in Australia when it comes to giving women equal rights with men. This is significantly below the global average, 47%. Worryingly, there is a large difference between men and women’s perception of this issue, with 45% of Australian men thinking equal rights have gone far enough, but only 26% of women agreeing.

Key global findings

The proportion of people who would define themselves as a feminist has increased since this was last surveyed by Ipsos in 2019. A global country average of 40% identify as such compared with 33% in 2019. This represents a return to the levels seen in 2018, where 37% agreed. Almost half of women define themselves as a feminist compared to a third of men (47% vs 32%).

The findings show that there is a risk of progress on gender equality stalling as almost half of those surveyed (a global country average of 47%) think things have gone far enough when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, in line with survey findings from 2020 (48%). Men are more likely to agree than women (52% vs 43%). Of note, younger people are more likely to agree, with 50% of Gen Z and 51% of Millennials agreeing compared to 47% of Gen X and 42% of Baby Boomers.

Workplace bias relating to caring responsibilities seems to be hitting women hardest, but flexible working policies would benefit both women and men

Key Australian findings

• 44% of Australians agree that workplaces treat men and women equally, down three points since 2020. Australian men are significantly more likely than women to think there is equality in the workplace (58% and 32%, respectively).
• Australia is above the global average for thinking that a woman’s career is more likely than a man’s to be damaged because they have childcare or other caring responsibilities come up during the working day (38% and 32%, respectively), they work part-time (26%), they are unable or unwilling to socialise with colleagues outside of working hours (23%), or they are working from home regularly (17%).
• A quarter (27%) of Australians say that childcare, or caring responsibilities, have impacted on their employment, either having prevented them from applying for a job or promotion, or contributed to the decision to leave a job. This figure is significantly higher for Australian women than men, (32% and 24%, respectively).

Key global findings

While some countries’ national statistics have shown a decline in birth rates during the COVID-19 pandemic^[1], there are a range of reasons leading to people choosing not to have children in the last two years. Most commonly among those under 50, financial concerns were a barrier (selected by a global country average of 26%), followed by being single (19%), and the COVID-19 pandemic (14%).

Other factors included existing caring responsibilities (13%), concerns due to political instability in their country (10%), children not fitting into their lifestyle (10%), and wanting to complete educational studies/qualifications (10%). When comparing participants of all ages, there was very little difference in the responses of men and women; for example, men and women were equally likely to select concerns about the impact on their career (6% each).

When thinking more broadly about gender in the workplace:

• There has been a marginal increase in the proportion of people who think workplaces in their country treat men and women equally (44% vs 41% in 2020). Men are more likely to agree (51%) than women (35%).
• When given a list of activities which could be damaging to someone’s career, the areas that people think are most likely to impact a woman’s career more than a man’s include having childcare responsibilities come up during the working day (35% think it will damage a woman’s career vs 9% for men), having other caring responsibilities come up during the working day (28% vs 9% for men), and prioritising family over work (28% vs 10% for men). Women were more likely than men to perceive potential damage to women’s careers.
• A quarter of participants stated that childcare or caring responsibilities have prevented them from applying for a job or promotion or have caused them to leave or consider leaving a job (25%), with women more likely to be affected than men (31% vs 19%). In total, 18% of women said that caring responsibilities have prevented them from applying for a job or promotion.

Despite these gendered differences, men and women’s prioritisation of flexible working options are very similar. Almost four in 10 people (a global country average of 38%) would like to have more flexibility in when they start and finish work, 31% would like flexibility in their work location, and a quarter each would like to work fewer hours per week or to work their hours in fewer days.

People are most likely to see institutions as treating men and women equally, although institutional bias is recognised – most commonly against women

Key Australian findings

• The government (44%), the media (44%), and social media (46%) stand out as institutions where Australia is significantly more likely than the global average to think that women are treated worse than men – and Australian women are far more likely than men to think this is the case.

Key global findings

When asked whether different institutions treat women better, worse or about the same as men, generally people are most likely to think institutions treat women and men equally. However, women feel there is more institutional bias against women than men do.

• Institutions that more people say treat women worse than men are the government (32% global country average vs 16% who say that women are treated better), the media (29% vs 19% better), the police (27% vs 20% better), and courts and prisons (22% vs 18% better).
• Social media receives the worst scores, and was the only institution where people are as likely to think women are treated worse than about the same (37%, vs 35% who think women are treated about the same as men and 16% who say women are treated better).
• People are slightly more likely to think women are treated better than men by educational institutions and health services (22% each, vs 16% and 17% respectively who think women are treated worse); these two institutions also had the highest proportion of people thinking they treat men and women about the same (52% and 51%, respectively).

Gender-based violence ranked as top issue facing women, with women more likely to recognise issues of equal pay, balancing work and caring responsibilities, and unpaid work

Key Australian findings:

• Domestic violence is considered the most important issue facing women and girls in Australia (39%, compared to a global average of 23%).
• Sexual harassment (21%), equal pay (21%) and sexual violence (19%) are the second and third most important issues.

Key global findings

People are most likely to select issues relating to gender-based violence when considering the most important issues facing women and girls. The top three issues selected are sexual harassment (global country average of 29%), sexual violence (25%) and domestic abuse (23%). Physical violence is ranked fifth (20%).

Equal pay ranks fourth, with women more likely than men to see equal pay as an important issue (22% vs 17%). Women are also more likely to see balancing work and caring responsibilities as an issue (17% vs 12%), and the amount of unpaid work women do (17% compared to 8% of men).

At a country level, equal pay was highlighted as an issue more often in European countries, Canada, the US, and Chile. Middle-income countries tended to be more likely to raise issues relating to sexual harassment, sexual violence, and physical violence (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, and Turkey). Balancing work and caring responsibilities and a lack of financial/economic independence was ranked highly in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.

[1] See, for example https://www.pnas.org/content/118/36/e2105709118