Gen Z men hold more traditional gender views than their grandfathers, global survey finds

King's College London / Ipsos

Thirty-one percent of Gen Z men agree that a wife should always obey her husband. Among Baby Boomer men, the figure is 13%. That is not a small gap. It is a reversal of what most people assume about generational progress on gender equality.

The numbers come from a 29-country survey of 23,000 people conducted by Ipsos and the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College London, released for International Women's Day 2026. The study covered countries including Great Britain, the United States, Brazil, Australia, and India.

The pattern repeated across multiple questions. Young men hold more traditional views about gender roles than older men, and in many cases more traditional views than young women of their own generation.

The numbers, in detail

Beyond the headline finding on wifely obedience, the survey revealed a consistent generational split among men:

• 33% of Gen Z men said a husband should have the final word on important decisions, versus 17% of Baby Boomer men.
• 24% of Gen Z men agreed that a woman should not appear too independent or self-sufficient, compared with 12% of Baby Boomers.
• 21% of Gen Z men said a "real woman" should never initiate sex, versus 7% of Baby Boomer men.
• 59% of Gen Z men said men are expected to do too much to support equality, compared with 45% of Baby Boomer men.

Among women, the generational differences existed but were smaller. Eighteen percent of Gen Z women agreed a wife should always obey her husband, compared with 6% of Baby Boomer women.

Young men are also stricter with themselves

The survey found that Gen Z men's traditionalism is not solely directed at women. They also impose restrictive expectations on male behavior:

• 30% said men should not say "I love you" to their friends, versus 20% of Baby Boomer men.
• 43% agreed that young men should try to be physically tough even if they are not naturally big, compared with 32% of all respondents.
• 21% said men who participate in caregiving for children are less masculine, versus 8% of Baby Boomer men.

There is an internal contradiction in the data that the researchers highlight. Gen Z men were the group most likely to say that women with successful careers are more attractive to men (41%, compared with 27% of Baby Boomers). They simultaneously hold the most traditional views about female independence and obedience. The same generation finds career women attractive and believes wives should obey.

The gap between personal views and perceived norms

One of the study's more revealing findings concerns the distance between what people personally believe and what they think their society expects. Across all 29 countries, personal views on household responsibilities were considerably more egalitarian than respondents' perceptions of social norms.

Only 17% of respondents personally said women should take on most childcare responsibilities. But 35% believed that most people in their country held that view. Similarly, 24% personally felt men should shoulder most of the earning responsibility, while 40% thought that was the prevailing social expectation.

In Great Britain, the gap was particularly stark. Fourteen percent personally felt women should bear most childcare responsibility, but 43% believed society expected it. People's actual views are more progressive than the norms they perceive around them.

Professor Heejung Chung, director of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership, argues this perception gap matters. If young men believe traditional gender expectations are the norm, they may conform to those expectations regardless of their private attitudes. The survey data suggest Gen Z men feel especially intense pressure to meet rigid masculine ideals.

What the survey cannot explain

The data describe a pattern but do not explain its causes. Why Gen Z men hold more traditional views than their grandfathers is a question the survey was not designed to answer. Possible factors include the influence of online communities that promote traditional masculinity, economic anxiety that may make provider-role expectations feel more salient, and backlash dynamics in which progress on gender equality triggers counter-movements.

The study is also cross-sectional, meaning it captures attitudes at one point in time. It cannot determine whether Gen Z men's views will moderate as they age, as has happened with some previous generational cohorts, or whether they represent a durable shift.

Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, chair of the Global Institute, frames the findings as a warning against assuming progress on gender equality is inevitable or irreversible. The data suggest it is neither.