Millennials and Gen Z less in favour of gender equality than older generations

Despite the stereotype of Millennials and Gen Z being “woke”, younger generations are more conservative on the issue of gender equality.

This is one of the key findings in a new global study carried out in 31 countries by Ipsos in collaboration with the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London for International Women’s Day.

Key findings:

• Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to think agree that a man who stays home to look after his children is less of a man (25%, 27% respectively) than Gen X (20%) and Baby Boomers (11%).
• But within the generations there are differences in opinion. There is a 20-percentage point difference between Gen Z men (60%) and Gen Z women (40%) when it comes to thinking women’s equality discriminates against men.
• Two in three (65%) across 31 countries agree that women won’t achieve equality in their country unless men taken actions to support women’s rights too.
• However, half (51%) of people across 30 country average believe men are being expected to do too much to promote equality and less than two in five (39%) identify themselves as feminists.
• Seven in ten people (70%) who have experience living under a male or female politician have no preference when it comes to choosing the gender of their political leader.

Download the Key findings Download the report

Younger generations are not progressive, especially young men

When it comes to issue of gender equality younger people are not always the most in favour. Over half of Gen Z and Millennials think when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, thing have gone far enough in my country (57% Gen Z, 60%, Millennials) compared with two in five Baby boomers (43%).

When it comes to question of whether men are being asked to do too much to support equality, only 43% of Baby Boomers say this is the case, while this rises to more than one in two for Millennials (57%) and Gen Z (54%).

Looking at the younger generations there is more likely to be a difference in opinion than older generations, who are broadly more aligned on gender equality. On the statement a man who stays home to look after his children is less of a man, 10% of Baby Boomer women and 11% of Baby Boomer men agree with this statement. While among Gen Zs, there is an 11-percentage point gap in opinion with 20% of Gen Z women agreeing and 31% of Gen Z men.

This gender gap between male and female Gen Zs is greater on the issue of equality going so far it discriminates against men. Six in ten (60%) Gen Z men agree with this statement while four in ten (40%) of Gen Z women feel this way.

On average across the countries surveyed, nearly two in three (65%) agree that women won’t achieve equality unless men take actions to support women’s rights too. A similar number also note that there are actions they can directly take to promote equality between genders (64%).

However, over half (52%) believe men are being expected to do too much to promote equality and less than two in five (39%) identify themselves as feminists.

People recognise that male allyship is important. 65% of people agree that women won’t achieve equality in their country unless men taken actions to support women’s rights too.

But there are setbacks. Around half of people globally think that men are being asked to do too much to support gender equality (52%). Almost half of people (46%) think that we have gone so far in promoting women’s equality that we are discriminating against men.

Trends on attitudes to gender equality

Although there hasn’t been much change since last year, the long-term trends show some attitudinal shifts across a 24-country average.

There has been an increase in the proportion of people who think that men are being expected to do too much to support gender equality, rising from 41% in 2019 to 52% in 2023/2024.

Similarly, more people think that when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, things have gone far enough in their country (41% in 2019 vs. 54% in 2023 / 2024).

However, people remain more likely to define themselves as a feminist now, compared with 2019 (39% vs. 33%) and are more likely to think there are actions they can take to promote gender equality (64% in 2023/2024 vs. 56% in 2018).

People don’t have a preference about the gender of their leaders – but experience matters

Overall people tend not to have a preference about the gender of their political or business leaders – the majority of people say they would have no preference towards a man or a woman if given a choice (57% and 58% respectively).

But experience matters. The more people have experience of male and female leadership, the less likely they are to care about their leaders’ gender.

Seven in ten people (70%) who have experience living under a male or female politician have no preference when it comes to choosing the gender of their political leader.

Two-thirds (66%) of people who have experience working under a male and female boss have no preference when it comes to choose the gender of their boss at work.

Similarly, those who only have experience working with a male boss are more likely to choose a male boss (46%) and those who only have experience working with a female boss are likely to choose a female boss (59%).

And people are more likely to prefer bosses of their own gender with 22% of women preferring a boss who was a woman (vs 12% of men) and 26% of men saying they would prefer a boss who was a man (vs 17% of women).

Gender appears to make little difference in people’s opinions about a leader’s capability to deliver economic and financial success.

The majority of people globally think male and female politicians are equally good at defending national security (43%), getting the economy back on track (43%) and fighting crime (42%). Or, that they are both equally as bad as each other (17%, 22% and 21% respectively).

Of those that have a preference, people are just as likely to think that male or female politicians are better getting the economy on track (10% male politicians are better versus 11% female politicians are better).

Just over half of people globally, think that male and female business leaders are both equally good at creating a financially successful and innovative company (both 55% respectively).