If men are from Mars and women, Venus, as the famous book put it, then Venus is quite like California and Mars closer to Montana. This is more true than ever, too, with yet another study showing that Gen Z (born 1997-2012) women are far more liberal than the generation’s men — in fact, the females are now 30 points more left-wing.
There has long been in politics what’s called a “gender gap” (should be “sex” gap, actually), with women consistently being more liberal, and more likely to vote for Democrats, than men are. For example and expressed as a percentage, the 2018 midterms saw men support Republicans 51-47, but women break Democratic 59-40. Yet this already-large gap may be becoming a chasm, with a major reason being the sexes’ diverging beliefs on “gender” politics and feminism.
Business Insider reports on the story, writing that since “2014, women between the ages of 18 and 29 have steadily become more liberal each year, while young men have not. Today, female Gen Zers are more likely than their male counterparts to vote, care more about political issues, and participate in social movements and protests.”
“While the gender gap is an enduring feature of American politics, at no time in the past quarter century has there been such a rapid divergence between the views of young men and women,” the site continues. “The startling speed of the change suggests something more significant is going on than just new demographic patterns, such as rising rates of education or declining adherence to a religion — the change points to some kind of cataclysmal event.”
This is an international phenomenon, too, as the Financial Times informs:
In countries on every continent, an ideological gap has opened up between young men and women. Tens of millions of people who occupy the same cities, workplaces, classrooms and even homes no longer see eye-to-eye.
In the US, Gallup data shows that after decades where the sexes were each spread roughly equally across liberal and conservative world views, women aged 18 to 30 are now 30 percentage points more liberal than their male contemporaries. That gap took just six years to open up.
Germany also now shows a 30-point gap between increasingly conservative young men and progressive female contemporaries, and in the UK the gap is 25 points. In Poland last year, almost half of men aged 18-21 backed the hard-right Confederation party, compared to just a sixth of young women of the same age.
Outside the west, there are even more stark divisions. In South Korea there is now a yawning chasm between young men and women, and it’s a similar situation in China. In Africa, Tunisia shows the same pattern. Notably, in every country this dramatic split is either exclusive to the younger generation or far more pronounced there than among men and women in their thirties and upwards.
How did this become global? The Internet comes to mind. Decades ago, people didn’t have a direct conduit to the entire world; their views were influenced and shaped by those around them, such as parents, teachers, and other townspeople.
While those geographically proximate still have influence, the Internet allows ideas to be transmitted worldwide at a button’s touch. Moreover, people everywhere can watch the same podcasters — podcasters who themselves might’ve been largely shaped by the same earlier podcasters.
In fact, that such people are sometimes now called “influencers” tells the tale: The Internet birthed this now-common status because it allows any charming marketer (of products or ideas) to reach, and sway, a massive audience.
(Note: At least in one way, this facilitates globalism. Not only does the Internet bring people together globally, but they often conclude that they have more in common with a co-ideologist on the world’s far side than with a political opponent next door.)
As for women’s burgeoning leftism, both Business Insider and the Financial Times mention the #MeToo movement as a key factor, uniting many females in left-wing feminist grievance politics. (The irony is that perhaps 90 percent of those implicated in sexual misconduct via #MeToo were left-wingers. This, mind you, is likely why the movement fizzled.)
In contrast, some young fellows are recoiling at feminism. “For a growing number, feminism has less to do with promoting gender equality and more to do with simply attacking men,” Business Insider also tells us. “A 2022 survey by the Southern Poverty Law Center found that 46% of Democratic men under 50 agreed that feminism has done more harm than good — even more Republican men agreed. In our recent poll, roughly one in four male Gen Zers said they have experienced more gender discrimination than older men. And less than half of Gen Z men identified as feminists, with only half saying they support the #MeToo movement, compared to 72% of women.”
Predictably, when even this minority of Gen Z men rejects feminism, it’s portrayed as a character defect. Often blamed, too, is the influence of “manosphere” figures such as Andrew Tate and psychologist Jordan Peterson. The thinking is, “What’s wrong with these young Neanderthals — and how can we ‘cure’ them of their unwoke delusions?”
It apparently doesn’t occur to these critics (largely because of prejudice) that these young men might’ve been bitten by the feminist norms outlined in the “War on Boys” video below.
In the same vein is the following from investigative journalist John Stossel.
All this said, perspective is needed. First, Gen Z men are notably more apathetic than their female counterparts and thus less likely to be politically engaged. Second, “liberal” and “conservative” are relative terms, with each one corresponding to different positions in different times and places; e.g., today’s conservatives are significantly more libertine than those of the 1950s.
Lastly and related to the latter factor, Gen Z is overall the least “traditional” generation in American history, with its members more likely identify as “LGBTQ” than Republican. In fact, among voters under 30, the only group that supported President Donald Trump in 2020 was young white men.
