1 out of 3 men believe feminism does more harm than good
On the occasion of International Women's Day, Ipsos unveils the results of a global survey conducted in 30 countries in collaboration with the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London.
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Key findings
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Only two in ten deny the existence of gender inequality, but views are split on the benefits of feminism
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Concerns about online abuse remain, with one in ten men saying it’s acceptable to send someone unrequested explicit images
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Four in ten have experienced online abuse or seen sexist content but one in three believe many women overreact
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Victim-blaming attitudes are found in a minority across the countries asked
Men are more likely to question the existence of gender inequality and the benefits of feminism
The majority of people globally disagree gender inequality doesn’t really exist, with a global country average of 55%. However, despite evidence that gender inequality globally has only increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, just under a fifth agree (18%). Men are more likely to agree that gender inequality doesn’t really exist than women (21% vs 14%). In several countries, the proportion of men who agree is double the proportion of women (including Australia, 30% vs 14%; Romania, 27% vs 13%; and Russia, 30% vs 12%).
Men are also more likely to be sceptical about the benefits of feminism and to question the existence of gender inequality today:
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A third of men think feminism does more harm than good (32% global country average) and believe that traditional masculinity is under threat (33%).
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Women are less likely to agree, with a fifth (20%) agreeing feminism does more harm than good and a quarter thinking traditional masculinity is under threat today (25%).
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A fifth think that feminism has resulted in men losing out in terms of economic or political power or socially (19%), with men more likely to agree than women (23% vs 15%).
Victim-blaming attitudes toward violence against women are held by a minority, but only around half disagree outright with victim-blaming statements
Around half disagree that violence against women is often provoked by the victim (global country average of 55%) and that women who say they are abused often make up or exaggerate claims of abuse or rape (53%), and a minority expressed concerning views in relation to violence against women:
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Around one in seven say violence against women is often provoked by the victim (15%), including 13% of women. The same proportion say that women who report being abused often make up or exaggerate claims (15%, with 20% of men and 10% of women agreeing).
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While three quarters disagree that it’s a woman’s obligation to have sex with her boyfriend or husband even if she doesn’t feel like it (76%), one in ten agree (9%).
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Younger people are more likely to agree with all three sentiments. For example, around one in five Gen Z and Millennials agree that violence against women is often provoked by the victim (18% and 19%, respectively, compared to 14% of Gen X and 11% of Baby Boomers).
Women are more likely to receive online harassment and to feel affected by it
Harmful and misogynistic content is prevalent online:
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Two in five (45% global country average) say they have experienced online abuse or seen sexist content in the past two years.
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Of the examples of harmful content surveyed, the two most commonly viewed forms are comments or images suggesting men are superior to women or suggesting that women cause many of the problems faced by men (16% each).
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Women were more likely to say they had noticed both these messages, perhaps being more likely to notice and remember these messages (19% of women vs 13% of men noticed comments suggesting men are superior, and 18% of women vs 13% of men saw comments suggesting women cause men’s problems).
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In terms of online harassment, women are more likely to have received sexual harassment. A fifth (19%) have been sent unrequested comments or compliments on their physical appearance and one in 10 (11%) have had sexist or misogynistic language directed at them (vs 10% and 5% of men, respectively).
Women also seem to be more impacted by online abuse, as among those who have viewed comments or images online which suggest men are superior to women or that women cause many of the problems facing men are more likely to report that they have stopped saying what they think online (32% vs 26% of men), experienced lower self-esteem or self-confidence (26% vs 18% of men) and experienced panic attacks, anxiety or stress (18% vs 13% of men) as a result of online abuse.
The majority agree that women should not have to put up with online abuse (78% global country average). Agreement is lower amongst men (74% vs 82% of women) and younger generations (75% of under 50s vs 85% of over 50s). However, people are split as to whether the best way for women to deal with online abuse is to ignore it, with 35% agreeing and 39% disagreeing.
People are slightly more likely to agree than disagree that men are mainly to blame for online abuse (35% agree and 27% disagree). However, people are split on whether many women overreact to things that people send them or say to them online (33% agree and 31% disagree), and agreement is higher amongst men (36% vs 30% of women).
Most think harmful and abusive online behaviour is unacceptable, but acceptability is higher among men, frequent internet users, and younger generations
When asked about various forms of online abuse, the vast majority find them unacceptable. However:
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A quarter think sending unrequested comments or compliments to someone on their physical appearance is acceptable (25% global country average), with men more likely to agree than women (28% vs 22%).
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Around one in 10 think the following forms of online contact are acceptable: using generally abusive language (11%), homophobic or transphobic comments (9%), sexist or misogynistic language (8%), racist language (8%), posting personal details online (8%), and sending unrequested sexually explicit images (7%). Men are more likely to find all these forms of online contact acceptable. Six per cent find sharing someone’s intimate images without consent acceptable.
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More frequent online usage was associated with viewing forms of online harm as acceptable. For example, those who use online gaming sites at least once a month were more likely to view sharing someone’s intimate images without their consent as acceptable than those who never use social media, messaging services, or online gaming (11% vs 2%).
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Younger people tend to be more likely to find harmful online behaviour acceptable than older generations. For example, 10% of Gen Z and Millennials find sending someone unrequested, sexually explicit images acceptable, compared to 6% of Gen X and 3% of Baby Boomers.
While the proportion of people defining themselves as a feminist has increased, opposition to feminism persists, particularly amongst men
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
While some countries’ national statistics have shown a decline in birth rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, 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:
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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%).
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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.
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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 is 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
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.
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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).
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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 threated better).
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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
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 USA 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.
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