A global survey of 23,000 people across 29 countries has produced one of the more unexpected findings in recent social research: young men belonging to Generation Z hold more traditional views about gender roles than older generations, including Baby Boomers. The study, conducted by Ipsos in partnership with the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, surveyed people aged 16 and older in countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, and India. What it found cut against the assumption that younger generations automatically trend more progressive on social issues.
Roughly one in three Gen Z men, meaning those born between 1997 and 2012, agreed with the statement that a wife should obey her husband. That same share, about 33 percent, also believed that the husband should have the final say in major household decisions. When compared to Baby Boomer men, born between 1946 and 1964, the contrast is significant: only 13 percent of men in that older generation agreed that a wife should always defer to her husband. Among women, 18 percent of Gen Z respondents agreed with the statement, compared to just 6 percent of Baby Boomer women.
The numbers vary considerably depending on geography. Agreement with the idea of wifely obedience was highest in Indonesia at 66 percent and Malaysia at 60 percent. In the United States the figure sat at 23 percent, while in the United Kingdom it came in at 13 percent. These regional differences suggest the phenomenon is shaped by specific cultural and religious contexts, though the generational pattern holds across many of the countries surveyed, making it difficult to attribute the results to any single local factor.
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Part of what researchers and commentators have pointed to as a driving force is the rise of what has been called “manfluencer” culture online. Short-form video content on platforms like TikTok and YouTube tends to reward confident, confrontational, and authoritative delivery, which creates an ideal packaging for messages about hierarchy in relationships and traditional gender dynamics. A peer-reviewed study conducted on a sample of Swedish men found that following such influencers was associated with a greater tendency toward the dehumanization of women, driven by a sense that male status was under threat. A separate expert review examining the “manosphere” in the context of children’s and adolescent mental health described it as an international network of anti-feminist communities, warning that systematic data on long-term effects is still lagging behind the pace at which this content spreads. In plain terms, some young men are effectively learning what masculinity means from content that disguises fear as dominance and insecurity as authority.
Economic anxiety is another factor researchers have pointed to. When stable employment, homeownership, and broader financial security feel increasingly out of reach, identities that promise control at least within a private sphere become psychologically appealing. This connects to a documented structural shift in education: in many developed countries, young women now graduate from college at higher rates than their male peers. The OECD has highlighted this educational gap as one of the key structural differences that later flows into social status and life outcomes. When that reality collides with a cultural environment that still ties male worth to achievement and provider status, the result can be frustration that finds an outlet in narratives about women having gained too much ground.
The loneliness dimension of this story is also worth taking seriously. Gallup data from 2023 and 2024 found that 25 percent of American men between the ages of 15 and 34 reported feeling very lonely on the previous day, a rate higher than the general population average and higher than that of young women in the same age group. Research from the Pew Research Center has noted that while men and women do not report dramatically different overall levels of loneliness, men are significantly less likely to seek emotional support or lean on their social networks in the ways that women typically do. When a romantic relationship becomes the primary or only source of emotional regulation, and the skills needed to express vulnerability are underdeveloped or actively discouraged, frustration within that relationship can more easily translate into a desire for control rather than genuine communication.
The Economist has described this broader pattern as a growing ideological gap between young women, who are trending more liberal on social issues, and their male peers, who are not moving at the same pace. UN Women has also flagged in its reports that a meaningful number of governments are recording pushback against women’s rights, suggesting the trend is not purely a social media phenomenon but something with real political dimensions. The “zero-sum” framing of gender equality, the idea that gains for women necessarily represent losses for men, has become a psychologically convenient narrative because it offers a simple explanation and a clear target for blame.
At the same time, other trends are complicating the picture in interesting ways. Online culture has also produced the “trad son” phenomenon, a young man who remains at home with his parents, often without a traditional career path, and takes on domestic responsibilities and household management. This trend has been interpreted partly as humor, partly as a product of economic conditions, and partly as an attempt to redefine masculinity outside the conventional breadwinner role. It represents a very different response to the same pressures, one that seeks an alternative sense of purpose rather than a restoration of traditional hierarchy. The tension between these two impulses is one of the defining features of how young men are currently navigating identity.
The term “Gen Z” itself was not coined by anyone in that generation. It was researchers and marketers who applied it, following the alphabetical convention after Generation X and Y, which has led to the somewhat absurd situation of an entire cohort being defined by a letter selected by people decades older than them. Studies on political polarization have also found that the gender gap in political ideology among young people is now wider in the United States than at any point since researchers began tracking it systematically in the 1970s.
Do you think the survey results reflect a genuine cultural shift, or is something else going on beneath the surface? Share your thoughts in the comments.
