A gap between men and women is occurring, per FT, in political ideology with men becoming more conservative and females becoming more liberal
In nations across every continent, there has emerged a noticeable ideological divide between young men and women. Millions of individuals who inhabit the same urban areas, workplaces, classrooms, and even households no longer see eye to eye.
According to Gallup data from the US, women aged 18 to 30 now hold political views that are 30 percentage points more liberal than their male counterparts, marking a significant shift within just six years. Similarly, Germany exhibits a 30-point gap between increasingly conservative young men and progressive female peers, while the UK shows a 25-point divide. In Poland, nearly half of men aged 18-21 supported the hard-right Confederation party last year, compared to only a sixth of young women in the same age group.
Beyond the Western sphere, even more pronounced divisions exist. South Korea and China, for instance, witness a profound disparity between young men and women, as does Tunisia in Africa. Notably, this stark split is either unique to the younger demographic or significantly more pronounced among them compared to individuals in their thirties and beyond.
This phenomenon found fertile ground in South Korea, where gender inequality persists and outright misogyny is prevalent.
During the country's 2022 presidential election, while older men and women voted similarly, young men overwhelmingly supported the right-wing People Power party, while young women rallied behind the liberal Democratic party in nearly equal proportions.
Although Korea's situation is extreme, it serves as a cautionary tale for other nations about the consequences of a growing divergence between young men and women. The society remains deeply divided, with plummeting marriage rates and a precipitous decline in the birth rate, which hit a record low of 0.78 births per woman in 2022, the lowest globally.
In the US, UK, and Germany, young women now adopt significantly more liberal stances on immigration and racial justice compared to young men, while older demographics maintain more balanced views. While the prevailing trend has been women shifting leftward while men remain stagnant, there are indications that young men are actively gravitating towards the right in Germany. Today's under-30s exhibit greater opposition to immigration than their predecessors and have increasingly aligned with the far-right AfD in recent years.
