‘Consistent minority’ of young men less positive about feminism, survey suggests

Researchers looked at attitudes of the public to masculinity and women’s equality.

Researchers found young men were notably less positive than young women about the impact of feminism (Alamy/PA)

A “consistent minority” of young men believe it is harder to be a man than a woman today, that feminism has done more harm than good and have a favourable view of controversial influencer Andrew Tate, according to a survey.

Research from King’s College London (KCL) and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership looked at attitudes of the public to masculinity and women’s equality from a representative survey of 3,716 people aged 16 and over.

In some cases young men are no more supportive of action on gender equality than older men, and young men tend to be more worried about the challenges facing men, researchers said.

Overall just under half (48%) of the public said they think it is harder to be a woman than a man today, while 14% said the opposite.

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A quarter of males aged 16 to 59 said men have it harder, while less than a fifth of men (17%) aged 60 and over felt this way, the survey showed.

A higher proportion (19%) of boys and men aged 16 to 59 said women have better lives, compared with 12% of men aged 60 and over who felt this way.

When it came to feminism, overall 43% of people said it has done more good to society than harm, with 12% thinking the opposite.

Among boys and young men (aged 16-29), more than a third (36%) think feminism has done more good to society than harm, a lower proportion than the 46% of women who feel this way.

Among this age group, 16% of males feel feminism has done more harm than good, compared with 9% of females who feel this way.

Respondents were also asked about the term toxic masculinity, with 67% saying they had heard of it.

The term is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as referring to ideas about the way that men should behave that are seen as harmful such as that men should not cry or admit weakness.

Researchers found that, by 41% to 22%, the public were twice as likely to say it is an unhelpful rather than helpful term.

Younger people overall had a more favourable view of the phrase, the study found.

(The study) points to a real risk of fractious division among this coming generation of young - and the need to listen carefully to both

Professor Bobby Duffy, KCL

But while more than a third (37%) of boys and men aged 16 to 29 classed it as an unhelpful phrase, this figure was less than a fifth among girls and women of the same age group.

Almost half of young women (47%) said they found it a helpful term, compared with 29% of young men.

Of the survey respondents, just over half (55%) said they had heard a great deal or fair amount about Tate – the influencer who has previously been banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech.

Among those who had heard of him, the vast majority (76%) had an unfavourable view and researchers said while all age groups were more negative than positive about him, young men stood out as being the most likely to approve of him and statements he has made.

A fifth (21%) of men aged 16 to 29 who had heard of Tate said they had a favourable view of him. This was three times the share of women in this age group (7%), and three times the share of men aged 30 to 59 (7%) who said the same.

Professor Bobby Duffy, director of the policy institute at KCL, said a “new and unusual generational pattern” has emerged showing a gender divide among the youngest generations in their perceptions.

He said: “It has to be said that larger proportions of young men still think it’s harder to be a woman today, that feminism has done more good than harm and have an unfavourable view of Andrew Tate.

“But there is a consistent minority of between one-fifth and one-third who hold the opposite view – in stark contrast to young women, who are by far the most likely across age and gender groups to believe it is harder to be a woman in the UK and will remain so in 20 years’ time.

“This points to a real risk of fractious division among this coming generation of young – and the need to listen carefully to both. That includes much more work on understanding the challenges facing young men today, or we risk that void being filled by celebrities and influencers, and this nascent divide being exacerbated.”

– Ipsos UK interviewed a representative sample of 3,716 people aged 16 and above online across the United Kingdom between August 17 and 23 2023.