Latest news with #BobbyDuffy
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How the war of the sexes is changing politics forever
In his 1845 novel Sybil, Benjamin Disraeli coined the term 'two nations' to refer to the divide between the rich and the poor. But in British politics today, increasingly the two nations are men and women. The easiest way to predict how someone voted at this month's local elections was their sex. On the Left, nearly 60 per cent of Green voters were female. On the Right, three out of five Reform voters were male. Nor is this purely a British phenomenon. Political divergence between men and women is a worldwide trend, detectable in the United States, Germany, South Korea and beyond. In Britain, as elsewhere, the gender divide is particularly extreme among the young, notably Gen Z born between 1997-2010. In the 2024 general election, men under 25 were more than twice as likely to vote Reform as young women. Young women, in turn, were almost twice as likely to vote Green as young men. The new divide is all the more remarkable in that it inverts a norm that has existed since universal suffrage. After they gained the vote in 1918, women – who tended to be more religious and socially conservative – were a reliable bulwark of Tory support. Had only women voted, the Conservatives would have won every general election from 1950 to 1992. Not until 2017 were women more likely than men to vote for Labour. Now, global political gender dynamics have been transformed. Women have not merely moved to the Left of men; in many countries, the voting gap between the sexes is now larger than ever before. 'Generations tend to move together – not go in different directions, across gender lines,' says Prof Bobby Duffy from King's College London. 'This is a new development. There's a very unusual trend of a split within a cohort, Gen Z.' Traditionally, age and class were the two main cleavages in British politics, explains Luke Tryl, the UK director of the polling company More in Common. Now, these have been replaced by two new interrelated divides: gender and education. Today, 57 per cent of UK higher education students are female. There are now four female graduates for every three male graduates. Differing levels of education are driving the sexes apart at the ballot box. Young people almost invariably lean well to the Left of older generations. But Reform is now the most popular party among non-graduate young men: 26.1 per cent of men under 25 without a degree support the party. Just 10.7 per cent of young men with a degree support Reform. Yet only about half the gender divide is explained by women attending university in greater numbers, Tryl estimates. The other half is rooted in different cultural and social attitudes. Even when young men are as well-educated as women, and earn as much, they still tend to be more Right wing. The contrast can be explained by differing priorities. Men tend to be anti-immigration, perhaps because working-class men feel particularly under threat from low-skilled migration. Men are also generally less motivated by climate concerns. The #MeToo movement, and feminism more broadly, are sharply polarising issues too. Indeed, by some metrics young men are more anti-feminist than older cohorts. Worldwide, the pollsters Ipsos found, 57 per cent of Gen Z men agree that 'we have gone so far in promoting women's equality that we are discriminating against men', compared with 44 per cent of male baby boomers. 'There's possibly a backlash among younger men,' says Rosie Campbell, a professor of politics at King's College London and an expert in voting behaviour. 'This attitude to gender equality is something new.' For all the focus on young men shifting Right, women have shifted Left by at least as much. 'Young women have moved to the Left over a very long period – it's happening more in every generation,' Campbell explains. The rise in female education and employment, and declining religiosity, has driven women to the Left. Being unmarried is also more correlated with having Left-wing views for women than for men. Increasingly gendered media consumption threatens to exacerbate these divides. For most of democratic history, men and women have largely used the same mainstream news sources. No longer. The Joe Rogan Experience, a podcast by an American comedian and mixed martial arts commentator, rallied young men to Donald Trump in the US election. His listeners supported Trump over Kamala Harris by a margin of two to one. The Joe Rogan Experience is also top of the podcast charts in the UK; around 80 per cent of listeners are male, with the majority under 35. Even the types of media that people consume are gendered. YouTube and podcasts are more popular among men; social media, including Instagram, has particularly strong appeal to women. 'If you're a young woman, the algorithm thinks that you're going to [vote] Green. If it sends you anything about politics, it might be on that side,' Campbell observes. 'And vice versa for young men.' The struggling economy multiplies such differences. The poor jobs market encourages men and women alike to see progress as a zero-sum game, in which opportunities for one gender come at the expense of the other. 'When you have more economic pressure on cohorts, it does sharpen the sense of division within them,' Duffy reflects. This divide is being seen around the world. In the US last November, Kamala Harris won women voters by 8 per cent. This advantage was more than cancelled out by Trump winning male voters by 14 per cent. The same trend was detectable in three other countries this year. In Germany, in February, the Right-wing populists AfD won 27 per cent of men aged under 25 but only 15 per cent of young women, Ansgar Hudde of the University of Cologne has found. Die Linke ('The Left') won 35 per cent of females under 25, but just 16 per cent of males. In Canada, Mark Carney's victory in April was powered by the female vote. Even in an election dominated by Trump, the parties were polarised along gender lines. The gender voting gap is likely to have been the largest in Canadian history, says Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant from Queen's University, Ontario. A poll before the vote showed the Conservatives leading by five points among men while the centre-left Liberals had a 25 per cent lead among women – an overall 30 per cent gender gap. Women were central to Anthony Albanese's re-election in Australia this month: pre-election polls found that men aged 18-34 were 10 per cent more likely to vote Conservative. The strongest predictor of seats with a higher Green vote was a greater number of university-educated women, Dr Intifar Chowdhury from Flinders University has found. Nowhere is the gender divide more extreme than South Korea. There, on top of the underlying forces driving the sexes apart elsewhere, two particularly toxic issues deepen the political gender chasm. South Korea has the largest gender pay gap in the developed world – 29 per cent – creating anger among highly educated women. Men, in turn, are angry by the requirement to do 18 months' military service. 'Especially after the 2008 economic crisis, you have huge competition for jobs,' says Heejung Chung, who grew up in South Korea and is professor of work and employment at King's College London. 'Opportunities for young people in general, both men and women, have significantly declined. 'Women are going into higher education in higher numbers. A lot of young men feel like, 'We're actually in a worse state than women.'' In the 2022 presidential election, the Right-wing candidate Yoon Suk Yeol particularly courted young men. Yoon claimed that men were being treated like 'potential sex criminals', and denied the existence of systemic discrimination against women. While men and women over 40 showed minimal voting differences, Yoon won 59 per cent of men under 30, yet just 34 per cent of young women. As president, Yoon discontinued funding for programmes aimed at addressing sexism and removed the term 'gender equality' from the school ethics curriculum. And at 10.27pm on December 3 last year, Yoon declared martial law. Four days after the declaration, a nationwide rally demanded Yoon's impeachment. Yet crowds were overwhelmingly female. Only about one tenth of all pro-impeachment protestors were men. The greatest determinant of how people viewed the most seismic event in South Korea since the introduction of democracy was their gender. Now, on June 3, these divisions will surface once again. South Korea is holding its next presidential election, brought forward by Yoon's removal from office. The vote is likely to see a similar gender gap on Left-Right lines to previous elections, Chung believes. South Korea offers a stark warning, pointing to a future in Britain and around the world in which, rather than young people of both sexes prospering together, they increasingly see their interests at war with each other. The consequences of such gender polarisation go far beyond politics. A chasm between the sexes in the ballot box is also bad for the future of humanity itself. Today, South Korea has the world's lowest birth rate: just 0.72 births per woman. This is almost certainly the lowest birth rate in any country in peacetime in human history. Births are even less common in Seoul: the capital's birth rate is 0.55, the lowest of any city in the world. Korea's population is projected to halve by the year 2100, creating a financial and demographic crisis. The government has spent more than $250 billion on programmes to encourage people to start families, to little avail. One third of women say they do not want to get married, compared with only 13 per cent of men. Remarkably, only 34 per cent of women aged 25-29 say that they want to have children. 'More women are saying that having a marriage or having children is not a prerequisite for a good life,' Chung observes. 'That makes men angrier.' It turns out that men and women divided by politics have little wish to couple up – or to reproduce. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fewer women would switch gender now than 80 years ago
Far fewer women today would prefer to switch gender than they once did, according to a study. Researchers compared public attitudes and behaviours in the 1930s and 1940s with those in 2024 to find out how society had changed over the course of almost a century. They found that 37 per cent of women in 1947 said they would rather be a man, with just 9 per cent feeling the same way today. The team behind the study said the results were a sign of the progress made on women's rights and equality in the UK. Men's preferences remain the same, however. Around one in 20 (5 per cent) said they would rather be a woman today, almost the same figure as in the 1940s (4 per cent), the study said. The research by the Policy Institute at King's College London also highlights shifts in how much men contribute to housework, the importance of children doing homework and the desire for higher wages over job security. Prof Bobby Duffy, director of The Policy Institute, said: 'These long-term trends tell us so much about elements of life we take for granted today but are actually pretty new in our history.' A quarter of men in 1947 said they did no housework, with only 4 per cent of men admitting to this today. However, women still do the bulk of the chores – according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), women spend around three-and-a-half hours a day doing unpaid work activities such as housework and volunteering, almost an hour more than the average man. The study also found that while people used to value job security over high wages, opinion today is much more closely divided. Some 73 per cent of people in 1946 said job security was more important, but that figure is only 41 per cent today, with 46 per cent of people prioritising the highest possible wages. Regarding education, only 21 per cent of people in 1937 thought children should have homework – that figure is now 68 per cent. While Britain used to be split on whether boys and girls should be taught separately (43 per cent) or together (45 per cent), the study found people are now hugely in favour of them being taught together, with this figure at 76 per cent. Prof Duffy added: 'Many other small but important behaviours have also increased hugely – from keeping fit and the ability to swim, to men's contribution to work in the home. 'But some have remained remarkably constant, not least that four in 10 of us just struggle to get out of bed in the morning – a very human feeling that seems may always be with us.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
The Independent
17-04-2025
- General
- The Independent
Fewer women would prefer to switch gender than they once did, study shows
Far fewer women today would prefer to switch gender than they once did, according to a study. Researchers compared public attitudes and behaviours in the 1930s and 1940s with those in 2024 to find out how society had changed over the course of almost a century. They found that 37% of women in 1947 said they would rather be a man, with just 9% feeling the same way today. The team behind the study said the results were a sign of the progress made on women's rights and equality in the UK. Men's preferences remain the same, however – around one in 20 (5%) said they would rather be a woman today, almost the same figure as in the 1940s (4%), the study said. The research by the Policy Institute at King's College London also highlights shifts in how much men contribute to housework, the importance of children doing homework, and the desire for higher wages over job security. Professor Bobby Duffy, director of The Policy Institute, said: 'These long-term trends tell us so much about elements of life we take for granted today but are actually pretty new in our history.' A quarter of men in 1947 said they did no housework, with only 4% of men admitting to this today. However, women still do the bulk of the chores – according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), women spend around three and half hours a day doing unpaid work activities such as housework and volunteering, almost an hour more than the average man. The study also found that while people used to value job security over high wages, opinion today is much more closely divided. Some 73% of people in 1946 said job security was more important, but that figure is only 41% today, with 46% of Brits prioritising the highest possible wages. Regarding education, only 21% of people in 1937 thought children should have homework – that figure is now 68%. While Britain used to be split on whether boys and girls should be taught separately (43%) or together (45%), people are now hugely in favour of them being taught together, with this figure at 76%, the study found. Professor Duffy added: 'Many other small but important behaviours have also increased hugely – from keeping fit and the ability to swim, to men's contribution to work in the home. 'But some have remained remarkably constant, not least that four in 10 of us just struggle to get out of bed in the morning – a very human feeling that seems may always be with us.'
The Independent
17-04-2025
- General
- The Independent
One in three women in 1947 said they would rather be a man. Here's how they feel today
In 1947, more than one in three women (37 per cent) said they would rather be a man. Today, it's down to nine per cent. A new study has compared public attitudes and behaviours in the 1930s and 1940s with those in 2024 to find out how society has changed over the course of almost a century. Researchers said the result was a sign of the substantial progress made in women's rights and gender equality within the UK. Meanwhile, men's perspectives on the matter have remained relatively static. Around one in 20 (5 per cent) said they would rather be a woman today, almost the same figure as in the 1940s (4 per cent), the study said. The research by the Policy Institute at King's College London also highlights shifts in how much men contribute to housework, the importance of children doing homework, and the desire for higher wages over job security. Professor Bobby Duffy, director of The Policy Institute, said the 'long-term trends tell us so much about elements of life we take for granted today but are actually pretty new in our history.' A quarter of men in 1947 said they did no housework, with only four per cent of men admitting to this today. However, women still do the bulk of the chores – according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), women spend around three and a half hours a day doing unpaid work activities such as housework and volunteering, almost an hour more than the average man. The study also found that while people used to value job security over high wages, the opinion today is much more closely divided. Some 73 per cent of people in 1946 said job security was more important, but that figure is only 41 per cent today, with 46 per cent of Brits prioritising the highest possible wages. Regarding education, only 21 per cent of people in 1937 thought children should have homework – that figure is now 68 per cent. While Britain used to be split on whether boys and girls should be taught separately (43 per cent) or together (45 per cent), people are now hugely in favour of them being taught together, with this figure at 76 per cent, the study found. Professor Duffy added: 'Many other small but important behaviours have also increased hugely – from keeping fit and the ability to swim, to men's contribution to work in the home. 'But some have remained remarkably constant, not least that four in 10 of us just struggle to get out of bed in the morning – a very human feeling that may always be with us.'
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fewer women would prefer to switch gender than they once did, study shows
Far fewer women today would prefer to switch gender than they once did, according to a study. Researchers compared public attitudes and behaviours in the 1930s and 1940s with those in 2024 to find out how society had changed over the course of almost a century. They found that 37% of women in 1947 said they would rather be a man, with just 9% feeling the same way today. The team behind the study said the results were a sign of the progress made on women's rights and equality in the UK. Men's preferences remain the same, however – around one in 20 (5%) said they would rather be a woman today, almost the same figure as in the 1940s (4%), the study said. The research by the Policy Institute at King's College London also highlights shifts in how much men contribute to housework, the importance of children doing homework, and the desire for higher wages over job security. Professor Bobby Duffy, director of The Policy Institute, said: 'These long-term trends tell us so much about elements of life we take for granted today but are actually pretty new in our history.' A quarter of men in 1947 said they did no housework, with only 4% of men admitting to this today. However, women still do the bulk of the chores – according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), women spend around three and half hours a day doing unpaid work activities such as housework and volunteering, almost an hour more than the average man. The study also found that while people used to value job security over high wages, opinion today is much more closely divided. Some 73% of people in 1946 said job security was more important, but that figure is only 41% today, with 46% of Brits prioritising the highest possible wages. Regarding education, only 21% of people in 1937 thought children should have homework – that figure is now 68%. While Britain used to be split on whether boys and girls should be taught separately (43%) or together (45%), people are now hugely in favour of them being taught together, with this figure at 76%, the study found. Professor Duffy added: 'Many other small but important behaviours have also increased hugely – from keeping fit and the ability to swim, to men's contribution to work in the home. 'But some have remained remarkably constant, not least that four in 10 of us just struggle to get out of bed in the morning – a very human feeling that seems may always be with us.'
