Younger men and women aren’t seeing eye to eye
Image: YPulse
It appears Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus is due for a modern-day sequel, according to recent data.
Over the past decade, an ideological gap has opened up between young men and women in America, with the divide spreading across many key areas of life.
- Political beliefs: According to Gallup data, young women have increasingly identified as more liberal and less conservative over the past decade, while young men’s political beliefs have remained relatively stable (with a slight trend in the opposite direction). Overall, US women aged 18-29 are currently 15 percentage points more likely to identify as liberal than men in the same age group (40% vs. 25%), up from a four percentage-point gap in 2014.
- Religious views: Young men in America are now more religious than young women for the first time in modern US history, per recent polling from the American Enterprise Institute. In 2023, 39% of Gen Z women above the age of 18 described themselves as religiously unaffiliated, compared to 34% for their male counterparts.
- Education: There are ~2.4 million more women than men across all US college campuses, up from a gap of 1.2 million one decade ago, per data from the American Institute for Boys and Men. In 2021, the most recent year with available data, men received 42% of all US bachelor’s degrees, the lowest male share on record.
Driving the trend: Experts say the growing gender gap among young adults in the US can be attributed to several factors that emerged in recent years, including the #MeToo movement, the Covid pandemic, the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and the rise of social media content and algorithms encouraging polarization.
Zoom out: Similar ideological divides between young men and women have recently emerged in dozens of countries across the globe, including the UK, China, Germany, South Korea, Poland, and Tunisia, the Financial Times reports.
📊 Flash poll (long-form): In your opinion, what’s behind the growing ideological gap between younger American men and women?
See a 360° view of what media pundits are saying →
Sprinkles from the Left
- Some commentators argue that the growing divide between the political beliefs of the average young American man and woman will likely have a significant impact on the 2024 election, as Harris courts women and Trump attempts to draw men.
- Others contend that while it’s possible that the political gender gap between men and women in advanced democracies is widening, the evidence is hardly cut-and-dry – but that hasn’t stopped the narrative from running ahead of the facts.
- “Young men and women are diverging politically. That could shape the 2024 election.” –Ronald Brownstein, CNN
- “Are men and women growing apart politically? Not so fast.” –Zack Beauchamp, Vox
- “The Gender Gap Is Now a Gender Gulf” –Thomas B. Edsall, NY Times
Sprinkles from the Right
- Some commentators argue that partisan polarization that correlates ever more with sex is a highly concerning trend that will likely contribute to even deeper crises in our broader American culture over the coming decades.
- Others contend that America’s growing gender gap among young folks can be partially explained as a signifier of simple gender differences, rather than a commentary on the sad decline of American culture.
- “The gender gap is growing — and it bodes badly for American politics and culture” –Elizabeth Grace Matthew, The Hill
- “Generation Z religiosity gives evidence of gender norms” –Emma Fuentes, Washington Examiner
- “Young women’s shift to left might not be just about politics” –Hanna Seariac, Deseret News
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