Latest news with #genZ
Irish Examiner
21-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Over half of gen Z and millennial workers live paycheck to paycheck, survey finds
Just over half of millennial and gen Z workers are living paycheck to paycheck, with many expressing concern that they will not be able to retire with a degree of financial comfort, a new survey has found. The latest edition of the Deloitte 'Gen Z and Millennial Global Survey' comes as gen Z and millennials continue to become an ever more important part of the global workforce. It is estimated that these two generations will account for nearly three-quarters of all employees by 2030. The survey found that 56% of gen Z workers and 53% of millennial workers in Ireland live paycheck to paycheck — similar to levels seen in other countries — while 43% of gen Z and millennial workers say they struggle to pay all their living expenses each month. It found that 47% of Millennials fear that they will not be able to retire with financial comfort. This concern drops to 38% among gen Z. Deloitte's HR strategy and technology director Vipin Tanwar said: 'Gen Z and Millennials want meaningful, flexible forward-focused work environments,' citing the survey which showed 87% of gen Zs and 91% of Mmllennials say purpose is key to job satisfaction. 'They are ambitious but aren't just working for a salary. This represents a big generational shift where purpose and personal-development aren't just 'nice-to-haves' anymore, they are valid expectations,' he said. The survey also found that 66% of gen Zs and 39% of millennials are upskilling weekly, with 48% already using GenAI at work. It also shows a gap in workplace support, with most respondents reporting that managers fall short in providing guidance or addressing mental health needs. According to Deloitte, over 23,000 young workers across 44 countries took part in the survey including 415 from Ireland. This number comprises 309 Gen Z individuals and 106 millennials. Read More Banks eager to give out 'a lot more' loans for house building as billions available
Business Mayor
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
Cringe! How millennials became uncool
H er right to a naked ankle is, in the end, the hill Natalie Ormond is willing to die on. Ormond, a millennial, simply cannot – will not – get her head around gen Z's fondness for a crew sock, pulled up over gym leggings or skimming bare legs, brazenly extending over the ankle towards the lower calf. 'I stand by trainer socks and I won't budge,' says the 43-year-old. 'The more invisible the sock, the better.' A proclivity for socks hidden within low-top trainers is just one reason why millennials – anyone born between 1981-1996 – are now considered achingly uncool by the generation that came next: gen Z, AKA the zoomers, or zillennials. According to countless TikTok videos, other sources of derision for the generation that first popularised social media, millennial pink, and pumpkin-spice lattes are their choice of jeans (skinny and mom jeans are out; baggy hipsters are in); an obsession with avocado on toast (gen Z's green grub of choice is matcha); their excessive use of the crying laughing face emoji (for a zoomer, the skull emoji indicates humour, representing phrases such as 'I'm dying with laughter'); and the 'millennial pause', a brief moment of silence at the start of a millennial's video or voice note, thought to be because – and this really does make them sound ancient – they like to check the device they're using is actually recording. Millennials, typically self-deprecating, tend to join in, poking fun at themselves under the hashtags like #millennialsoftiktok. Avocado on toast … millennials' green grub of choice. Photograph:All of which is to say that, in recent years, millennials, the former hip young things that once seemed so cutting edge when cast side-by-side with the out-of-touch baby boomers and the rather nondescript generation X, have become, well, a bit cringe. I say this as an (uncool) millennial myself. Born in 1991, I, like many millennials, remember a time before tech took over: I didn't get a phone (mobile not smart) until I was in my final year of secondary school; I wasn't on Facebook – then a social media site populated by my friends, rather than my friends' mums – until I was at sixth form; and remember when Netflix used to post out physical DVDs. But being a millennial hasn't always been easy. We've been called lazy, entitled and overly sensitive. Older generations have, typically, ignored the reality of stagnant wages, student debt and rising house prices and blamed our apparent poor financial habits – and penchant for brunch – for being unable to get on the property ladder. But, I'll confess, being part of a generation that felt so progressive compared with its predecessors, bridging the gap between analogue and digital, felt significant, essential, and yes, bloody cool, actually. It's a shock, then, to wake up one morning and realise you've been usurped. Matcha latte … gen Z's green grub of choice Photograph:Some millennials are digging their heels in, resistant to their new status; 37-year-old Lily Saujani feels particularly affronted. 'It's ridiculous. We have been judged by the younger generation who think they have invented everything,' she says. 'But really, they are just wearing what we wore in our teen years.' Saujani says she first felt uncool when she was scrolling TikTok (an app invented by a millennial, incidentally) and saw that being born before 1992 was considered old. 'There's definitely an unspoken – but sometimes spoken – competition between the generations on TikTok. And yes, I do feel old when I've been on it,' she says, before adding, in a very millennial way: 'But my dogs have gone viral a few times.' In fact, much of the ire provoked by gen Z's teasing is driven by a sense that the younger generation are merely jumping on a cool and trendy bandwagon built by millennials. 'We paved the way for gen Z to be killing it on TikTok with our crappy Myspace accounts and MSN-ing each other from our university bedrooms,' says 41-year-old Lizzie Cernik, who believes millennials have a strong work ethic and are 'tough cookies'. Meanwhile, Ormond – the trainer sock fan – set up sustainable family store Smallkind in 2019 and is keen to stress that gen Z, famously environmentally conscious, had their eco-friendly way paved for them by millennials who got there first. But when did this discernible shift from cool to uncool happen? Cernik posits that the pandemic was the turning point. 'Many older millennials (myself included) were coming to the end of our party era around the time of lockdown,' she says. 'The pandemic accelerated that and when we emerged from lockdown, gen Z had taken over fashion culture with new trends.' Beauty editor and influencer Laura Pearson – who is 40 but claims she feels no older than 25 – agrees, saying she noticed an online shift during Covid. 'The internet had been my space before and now there was this whole wave of new people with no experience or credibility being able to build careers on Instagram and TikTok.' Still, Pearson, who adds that she stays relevant by surrounding herself with gen Z friends, says she refuses to be defined by a word. 'If someone is embarrassed by being called a millennial, they're giving a word far too much power.' Of course, generation bashing is nothing new – in fact, one could argue it's yet another thing millennials invented, coining, in the late 2010s, the phrase 'OK boomer' to dismiss attitudes associated with baby boomers. But, inevitably, this latest generational warfare, fought by the two cohorts most comfortable online, has a very public battleground: the internet. Illustration: Edith Pritchett/The Guardian Dr Carolina Are, social media researcher at Northumbria University's Centre for Digital Citizens, says most gen Z conversations about millennials being uncool happen online. Are, herself a millennial, suggests that the two generations' different approaches to existing online is often what makes millennials seem unfashionable to younger people. 'Being online always means mediating oneself through an app or platform, meaning that real authenticity is hard to come by, even for those who claim to be 'no filter',' she says. 'However, while millennials went through years of polished feeds and aesthetics, only showing our best highlight reels and caring about our online persona, gen Z seem to have settled on aesthetics that are a form of understated and chaotic curation. While some of these are great – for example, the 'goblin mode' rejection of anything polished – they are still aesthetics, and denying that pursuing them has an aim (content creation is a lucrative business and aspiration even for gen Z) would be disingenuous.' When I approach my gen Z brothers and their friends for clarification on what makes millennials uncool (a humbling experience; apparently even my over-cheery message inviting comments was 'very millennial'), one thing that stands out is the way in which we curate our lives. Selfies, for example. My generation takes selfies using the front-facing camera and a downward angle, the photographer's face, large and grinning, in the corner of the shot. Gen Z, it seems, favours the back camera and the volume button, using the 0.5x lens option to create a wide-angled picture with the snapper's giant distorted arm protruding from the bottom of the frame. While millennial selfies have a certain gloss to them – a quick glance at my own album shows me and my friends leaning in, drinks in hand, stiff and still and self-conscious as we gaze at our own faces – those taken by the younger generation seem more joyful, more self-assured, more spontaneous, more intentionally unflattering. What's more, the fact we still take selfies at any given opportunity (I've recently taken them at the park, at the pub, while breastfeeding, and mid-run) reveals something else intrinsically uncool about millennials. 'Gen Z users seem to be embracing the chaos of our world a lot more, while also being aware of the harms of social media,' says Are. 'The fact that millennials may still post a lot, or care about the way they're perceived, or attempt to keep a professional or polished facade, may appear uncool to them.' Selfies, the gen Z way. Photograph:Maybe, too, the ribbing that gen Z gives millennials is down to our different senses of humour, driven by our lived experiences. While millennial humour is, typically, self-deprecating and relatable, gen Z are more absurdist, ironic, and meta. (Millennials would make a meme; gen Z would make a joke about a meme.) My 25-year-old brother puts gen Z's edge down to a combination of factors: social media, a job market still feeling the effects of 2008, climate anxiety, ridiculous house prices, and a stream of negative and polarised news. 'It's all played a part in gen Z being not just more ironic and absurdist, but also more cynical and a bit angry. There's a vibe of: if I don't laugh, I'll cry.' Perhaps, of course, it's simply that the mantle of cool has passed to the next generation and we millennials need to get over it. Sam Harrington-Lowe, the 55-year-old founder and editor of Silver Magazine, a publication for 'the generation X-ers and beyond', says generation X (those born between 1965-80) are 'undeniably the coolest generation' because, she says, they don't care. 'The thing about being cool or not is about whether you care about it,' she says. 'The reason why 'OK boomer' hits so hard stems from the delight in firing up a boomer's outrage. It's hilarious! And calling millennials uncool is shooting fish in a barrel.' One millennial who doesn't care and is – at least in the opinion of this millennial – effortlessly cool as a result is culture journalist and author Daisy Jones, 32. Jones, who studied at Goldsmiths (cool) and writes for Vogue (also cool), doesn't have a single brunch selfie or cute dog picture on her Instagram grid, on which she has only posted 27 times since 2019 (extremely cool). 'I'm personally of the belief that 'coolness' doesn't come from trying hard or caring too much,' she says. 'Being constantly obsessed with what's on trend, or how you're coming across, or whether you're cringe or not isn't very interesting to me. I also never take style advice – or any advice, actually – off TikTok.' Jones adds that, given her followers are around her age, they have the same cultural reference points. 'It would be a bit weird if I started acting and dressing like a 19-year-old or pretending that I don't remember LimeWire or 9/11.' The only thing that does bug her about the generation below is the sense she gets that they think they were the first ones to grow up on the internet. 'I wasn't, like, collecting conkers at age 12,' she says. 'I was on Myspace.' Really, it's impossible to define cool; what's cool to me won't necessarily be cool to you. Perhaps, then, there's hope for the much-maligned millennials: if we think we're cool, does anything – or anyone – else matter? Perhaps we should all be more like Ormond and wear trainer socks, if we want. 'As you get older, it matters less and you have more of a sense of who you are,' she tells me. 'That's probably the coolest thing about being a millennial right now.'
The Guardian
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Cringe! How millennials became uncool
H er right to a naked ankle is, in the end, the hill Natalie Ormond is willing to die on. Ormond, a millennial, simply cannot – will not – get her head around gen Z's fondness for a crew sock, pulled up over gym leggings or skimming bare legs, brazenly extending over the ankle towards the lower calf. 'I stand by trainer socks and I won't budge,' says the 43-year-old. 'The more invisible the sock, the better.' A proclivity for socks hidden within low-top trainers is just one reason why millennials – anyone born between 1981-1996 – are now considered achingly uncool by the generation that came next: gen Z, AKA the zoomers, or zillennials. According to countless TikTok videos, other sources of derision for the generation that first popularised social media, millennial pink, and pumpkin-spice lattes are their choice of jeans (skinny and mom jeans are out; baggy hipsters are in); an obsession with avocado on toast (gen Z's green grub of choice is matcha); their excessive use of the crying laughing face emoji (for a zoomer, the skull emoji indicates humour, representing phrases such as 'I'm dying with laughter'); and the 'millennial pause', a brief moment of silence at the start of a millennial's video or voice note, thought to be because – and this really does make them sound ancient – they like to check the device they're using is actually recording. Millennials, typically self-deprecating, tend to join in, poking fun at themselves under the hashtags like #millennialsoftiktok. Avocado on toast … millennials' green grub of choice. Photograph:All of which is to say that, in recent years, millennials, the former hip young things that once seemed so cutting edge when cast side-by-side with the out-of-touch baby boomers and the rather nondescript generation X, have become, well, a bit cringe. I say this as an (uncool) millennial myself. Born in 1991, I, like many millennials, remember a time before tech took over: I didn't get a phone (mobile not smart) until I was in my final year of secondary school; I wasn't on Facebook – then a social media site populated by my friends, rather than my friends' mums – until I was at sixth form; and remember when Netflix used to post out physical DVDs. But being a millennial hasn't always been easy. We've been called lazy, entitled and overly sensitive. Older generations have, typically, ignored the reality of stagnant wages, student debt and rising house prices and blamed our apparent poor financial habits – and penchant for brunch – for being unable to get on the property ladder. But, I'll confess, being part of a generation that felt so progressive compared with its predecessors, bridging the gap between analogue and digital, felt significant, essential, and yes, bloody cool, actually. It's a shock, then, to wake up one morning and realise you've been usurped. Matcha latte … gen Z's green grub of choice Photograph:Some millennials are digging their heels in, resistant to their new status; 37-year-old Lily Saujani feels particularly affronted. 'It's ridiculous. We have been judged by the younger generation who think they have invented everything,' she says. 'But really, they are just wearing what we wore in our teen years.' Saujani says she first felt uncool when she was scrolling TikTok (an app invented by a millennial, incidentally) and saw that being born before 1992 was considered old. 'There's definitely an unspoken – but sometimes spoken – competition between the generations on TikTok. And yes, I do feel old when I've been on it,' she says, before adding, in a very millennial way: 'But my dogs have gone viral a few times.' In fact, much of the ire provoked by gen Z's teasing is driven by a sense that the younger generation are merely jumping on a cool and trendy bandwagon built by millennials. 'We paved the way for gen Z to be killing it on TikTok with our crappy Myspace accounts and MSN-ing each other from our university bedrooms,' says 41-year-old Lizzie Cernik, who believes millennials have a strong work ethic and are 'tough cookies'. Meanwhile, Ormond – the trainer sock fan – set up sustainable family store Smallkind in 2019 and is keen to stress that gen Z, famously environmentally conscious, had their eco-friendly way paved for them by millennials who got there first. But when did this discernible shift from cool to uncool happen? Cernik posits that the pandemic was the turning point. 'Many older millennials (myself included) were coming to the end of our party era around the time of lockdown,' she says. 'The pandemic accelerated that and when we emerged from lockdown, gen Z had taken over fashion culture with new trends.' Beauty editor and influencer Laura Pearson – who is 40 but claims she feels no older than 25 – agrees, saying she noticed an online shift during Covid. 'The internet had been my space before and now there was this whole wave of new people with no experience or credibility being able to build careers on Instagram and TikTok.' Still, Pearson, who adds that she stays relevant by surrounding herself with gen Z friends, says she refuses to be defined by a word. 'If someone is embarrassed by being called a millennial, they're giving a word far too much power.' Of course, generation bashing is nothing new – in fact, one could argue it's yet another thing millennials invented, coining, in the late 2010s, the phrase 'OK boomer' to dismiss attitudes associated with baby boomers. But, inevitably, this latest generational warfare, fought by the two cohorts most comfortable online, has a very public battleground: the internet. Illustration: Edith Pritchett/The Guardian Dr Carolina Are, social media researcher at Northumbria University's Centre for Digital Citizens, says most gen Z conversations about millennials being uncool happen online. Are, herself a millennial, suggests that the two generations' different approaches to existing online is often what makes millennials seem unfashionable to younger people. 'Being online always means mediating oneself through an app or platform, meaning that real authenticity is hard to come by, even for those who claim to be 'no filter',' she says. 'However, while millennials went through years of polished feeds and aesthetics, only showing our best highlight reels and caring about our online persona, gen Z seem to have settled on aesthetics that are a form of understated and chaotic curation. While some of these are great – for example, the 'goblin mode' rejection of anything polished – they are still aesthetics, and denying that pursuing them has an aim (content creation is a lucrative business and aspiration even for gen Z) would be disingenuous.' When I approach my gen Z brothers and their friends for clarification on what makes millennials uncool (a humbling experience; apparently even my over-cheery message inviting comments was 'very millennial'), one thing that stands out is the way in which we curate our lives. Selfies, for example. My generation takes selfies using the front-facing camera and a downward angle, the photographer's face, large and grinning, in the corner of the shot. Gen Z, it seems, favours the back camera and the volume button, using the 0.5x lens option to create a wide-angled picture with the snapper's giant distorted arm protruding from the bottom of the frame. While millennial selfies have a certain gloss to them – a quick glance at my own album shows me and my friends leaning in, drinks in hand, stiff and still and self-conscious as we gaze at our own faces – those taken by the younger generation seem more joyful, more self-assured, more spontaneous, more intentionally unflattering. What's more, the fact we still take selfies at any given opportunity (I've recently taken them at the park, at the pub, while breastfeeding, and mid-run) reveals something else intrinsically uncool about millennials. 'Gen Z users seem to be embracing the chaos of our world a lot more, while also being aware of the harms of social media,' says Are. 'The fact that millennials may still post a lot, or care about the way they're perceived, or attempt to keep a professional or polished facade, may appear uncool to them.' Selfies, the gen Z way. Photograph:Maybe, too, the ribbing that gen Z gives millennials is down to our different senses of humour, driven by our lived experiences. While millennial humour is, typically, self-deprecating and relatable, gen Z are more absurdist, ironic, and meta. (Millennials would make a meme; gen Z would make a joke about a meme.) My 25-year-old brother puts gen Z's edge down to a combination of factors: social media, a job market still feeling the effects of 2008, climate anxiety, ridiculous house prices, and a stream of negative and polarised news. 'It's all played a part in gen Z being not just more ironic and absurdist, but also more cynical and a bit angry. There's a vibe of: if I don't laugh, I'll cry.' Perhaps, of course, it's simply that the mantle of cool has passed to the next generation and we millennials need to get over it. Sam Harrington-Lowe, the 55-year-old founder and editor of Silver Magazine, a publication for 'the generation X-ers and beyond', says generation X (those born between 1965-80) are 'undeniably the coolest generation' because, she says, they don't care. 'The thing about being cool or not is about whether you care about it,' she says. 'The reason why 'OK boomer' hits so hard stems from the delight in firing up a boomer's outrage. It's hilarious! And calling millennials uncool is shooting fish in a barrel.' The soft life: why millennials are quitting the rat race One millennial who doesn't care and is – at least in the opinion of this millennial – effortlessly cool as a result is culture journalist and author Daisy Jones, 32. Jones, who studied at Goldsmiths (cool) and writes for Vogue (also cool), doesn't have a single brunch selfie or cute dog picture on her Instagram grid, on which she has only posted 27 times since 2019 (extremely cool). 'I'm personally of the belief that 'coolness' doesn't come from trying hard or caring too much,' she says. 'Being constantly obsessed with what's on trend, or how you're coming across, or whether you're cringe or not isn't very interesting to me. I also never take style advice – or any advice, actually – off TikTok.' Jones adds that, given her followers are around her age, they have the same cultural reference points. 'It would be a bit weird if I started acting and dressing like a 19-year-old or pretending that I don't remember LimeWire or 9/11.' The only thing that does bug her about the generation below is the sense she gets that they think they were the first ones to grow up on the internet. 'I wasn't, like, collecting conkers at age 12,' she says. 'I was on Myspace.' Really, it's impossible to define cool; what's cool to me won't necessarily be cool to you. Perhaps, then, there's hope for the much-maligned millennials: if we think we're cool, does anything – or anyone – else matter? Perhaps we should all be more like Ormond and wear trainer socks, if we want. 'As you get older, it matters less and you have more of a sense of who you are,' she tells me. 'That's probably the coolest thing about being a millennial right now.'
SBS Australia
01-05-2025
- Health
- SBS Australia
Swipe right, feel lonely: Dating apps and social media are making gen Z feel isolated
Smartphones, dating apps, social media are driving disconnection in the lives of Australia's gen Z and millennials, contrary to what you may think. Source: SBS News This article contains references to suicide/self-harm. Jayden Delbridge lost his father to suicide at the age of eight. By 14, he became a mental health advocate. Now 20, he is the founder of UrVoice Australia, a not-for-profit that provides mental health and wellbeing support to school students. "[Conversation about] mental health doesn't start in the hospital. It starts in cafes; it starts in speaking with friends in informal settings," Delbridge said. A new report based on two online polls covering nearly 1,400 respondents in various age groups (gen Z, millennials, 18+) by the Social Health Foundation highlights how loneliness, social isolation and disconnection are fuelling a mental health crisis amongst Australia's youth. The report also shines a light on the "hidden first responders" to mental health problems. The report highlights areas where social connection is breaking down amongst Australia's gen Z and millennials. Gen Z is generally defined as encompassing those aged between 13 and 28 (born between 1997 and 2012), with millennials aged between 29 and 44 (born between 1981 and 1996). Negative impact of smartphones and social media: 56 per cent of participants said social media left them feeling distressed, distracted and significantly impacted their mental health. Almost all participants (91 per cent) aged 18-39 believed "social media adversely affected the strength of their real-life interactions". Online dating apps lead to loneliness: 46 per cent shared that online dating apps "increased how lonely they felt". Many workplaces are not mentally healthy: 67 per cent of gen Z and millennial respondents support a shorter work week to reduce loneliness and improve their mental health. "Workplace bullying is at an epidemic level, with one-third of women having reported being bullied", the report added. The cost of living crisis is a mental health crisis: It stopped 86 per cent of gen Z and millennial respondents from pursuing their dreams and ambitions. The National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing for 2020-2022, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), surveyed Australians in the 16-85 age group, which totalled 19.8 million people. Of these, 42.9 per cent or 8.5 million Australians had experienced a mental disorder at some time in their life. Out of these 19.8 million Australians, only 17.4 per cent or 3.4 million, sought help from a health professional. The survey also found that one in five Australians has experienced a 12-month mental disorder, with 38.8 per cent of people aged 16-24 experiencing a 12-month mental disorder. The most prevalent conditions include anxiety, affective disorders (including depression) and substance abuse. Like Delbridge, the Foundation for Social Health also believes that mental health conversations don't just start at the hospital. Those suffering disclose trauma, stress and isolation to people who aren't part of the formal mental health system. The report states: "These informal, unrecognised interactions are the quiet frontlines of our mental health system. And yet, public policy barely acknowledges them." From hairdressers to hospitality staff, gym trainers and childcare educators — all are part of this "hidden workforce." Their clients confide in them very often "because those are the places they actually go". But for some, like salon owner Nicole Serafin, this can present challenges. "We get told about everything from affairs, to drug and alcohol abuse, to physical and mental abuse from partners, family and friends, and you can't do anything about it," she said. She said while trained psychiatrists have a buddy system: "hairdressers are not qualified to handle what we take on". Dr Pramudie Gunaratne is chair of the NSW branch of the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. "As psychiatrists, we are trained in caring for mental illness, but mental health is much wider than that … When we see people in emergency departments and clinic rooms, they are overwhelmed, at crisis point," she said. "Social connection is required all the time. It doesn't matter if it's prevention or early intervention, having that glue that holds people together is essential." This is why Glenys Reid established the first Chatty Cafe at Eclair Boulangerie, a French patisserie in the Melbourne suburb of Hampton in 2019. She recalls visiting cafes and restaurants, seeing many people dining alone. Referring to loneliness, she says: "It's an invisible and silent epidemic in Australia that we need to take action on." "The only way that it's going to be successful is if it is community-led." More than five years later, The Chatty Cafe Scheme has expanded to over 250 venues mainly across the east coast of Australia, including community centres, op shops, art galleries and even croquet and bowling clubs where patrons can have a chat with other patrons. "We know seven out of 10 people know we've got a problem with loneliness across Australia, we want those seven out of 10 people to play a role and reach out." According to the 2023 Social Connection in Australia report, from the Ending Loneliness Together organisation, one in four Australians feel persistent loneliness, and one in three people experience loneliness at any given time. Foundation for Social Health CEO Melanie Wilde is calling for a Commissioner for Social Connection to be established within government. "This isn't a problem you can solve with 7,500 psychiatrists and 30,000 psychologists," she said. What we need is a national strategy that funds the places, people, and platforms that keep communities strong — from pubs to libraries, sports clubs to cafes, gyms to grassroots arts organisations. Melanie Wilde, Foundation for Social Health CEO. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, there were 4,300 psychiatrists and 33,000 psychologists in Australia as of 2023. Separate inquiries into loneliness in Queensland and the ACT have called for a Minister for Loneliness. A similar inquiry is underway in NSW. Wilde welcomes the recommendations from these inquiries, but believes a more permanent position that goes beyond "cyclical portfolios" needs to be established. Social media influencer Milly Rose Bannister, who has 137,000 followers on Instagram, is also the CEO of youth mental health charity ALLKND. Bannister believes the issue is hard to fight with existing resources. "We have inherited a bit of a bin fire and been given a water pistol," she said. "We've got structures in place that have been in place for decades, and they're simply not matching up to what young people today are requiring for their well-being in general and particularly their mental health. "We need a complete reform."
ABC News
29-04-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Gender 'shaping' federal election as Vote Compass finds gen Z women are deeply progressive
Emma Garvey is voting for the first time at this federal election and her political views are similar to many women her age. She places herself on the left side of politics, drawn to progressive parties and policies. New Vote Compass data shows the majority of women under the age of 29 identify with the political left, creating a gap between them and their male peers. The 18-year-old, like many in her friendship circle, is still weighing up who to vote for, but she does know who she won't be supporting. Emma Garvey from Penrith is preparing to vote in her first federal election. ( ABC News: Billy Cooper ) "I feel like a lot of [my friends] are more anti-Dutton than they are pro-Albanese, like they're more anti-Liberal than they are pro-Labor," she said. "I feel like we've seen [Peter] Dutton trying to bring in that kind of [US President Donald] Trump politics, or the kind of Trump policies. "We've seen what's been happening over there [in the US] … young women are really worried about the risks that can pose to us, especially around women's rights." Stay updated: Catch the latest interviews and in-depth coverage on According to Vote Compass data, 67 per cent of gen Z women identified as left or moderately left, this compared to 52 per cent of women from other generations. While overseas there's been an observed trend of young men drifting to the right, Vote Compass data suggests gen Z men in Australia often consider themselves progressive. Vote Compass found 50 per cent of males under 29 years old described themselves moderately left or left, compared to only 40 per cent of men from other generations. The data comes from a demographically weighted sample of more than 350,000. Gender 'shaping the election debate' In the last two elections, only 26 per cent of gen Z, those born between 1996 and 2012, reported voting for the Coalition, according to the 2022 Australian Election Study. "No other generation records such skewed preferences at similarly early stages of the life course," the study's authors wrote in the report. Female support for the Coalition was at an historic low in 2022, the report found. "The Coalition has never attracted such a low share of the vote overall, but from women in particular," the report said. Photo shows Hannah Ferguson Gen Z are more progressive than previous generations at the same age, with young women sitting furthest left on the political spectrum. Michelle Arrow, a history professor from Macquarie University, said across the world women have been moving to the left, leaving behind their male counterparts. "It's happening across the many western democracies, where women's vote is shifting from a more conservative base, which it was right up until the 1980s and 1990s," she said. "It reflects those broader social shifts that we've seen, more young women are in higher education, women still remain dominant in kind of care professions." The 2022 Australian election was defined by gender issues, but this campaign was different, Professor Arrow said. "[The 2022 election] was defined by allegations around misconduct in Parliament House, the rise of Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins as very powerful young advocates for women, the march for justice," she said. "I think gender is not being discussed as much of a frontline issue as it was in the 2022 campaign … but I think gender is still very much shaping the election debate." Young women 'not recognised' in campaigns Vote Compass data found gen Z women were more likely to be supportive of social and environmental causes when compared to other age groups. Australians under the age of 45, gen Z, and millennial generations now outnumber baby boomers as the largest voting bloc in this election, according to the Australian Electoral Commission. "Young women are not yet recognised as a central or a really important voting category," Professor Arrow said. "We still see a lot of the offerings more broadly in the campaign have been around cost of living relief, rather than things that have been specifically targeted to young women." Young Labor sought to attract new members alongside other parties at University of Wollongong's orientation week. ( ABC News: Billy Cooper ) Young voters can be uninformed or unengaged with the electoral process, a Grifith University study found earlier this year. Almost half of gen Z who did vote in the 2022 federal election said their main reason for doing so was to avoid being fined, the report found. Stella Giacon, 19, is frustrated by the lack of political action on the issues that matter to her, which she admits leads her to "disassociate" from politics. Stella Giacon says she wants to be able to vote for someone who has the best interests of young people in mind. ( ABC News: Billy Cooper ) "I'm extremely concerned about what's going on with our climate … I want to live in a world where polar bears and tigers exist, and I can explain to my children they're real," she said. The University of Wollongong student is frustrated by what she perceives to be a lack of understanding of the serious issues facing young people. "Just look at the problem of student debt, the current living situation for lots of young people," she said. "Rent is extremely high, wages aren't going up at the same rate of as rent, and I think it'd just be great if we could vote for someone who has our best interests in mind as the young people of this country." Read more about the federal election: Want even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025 Professor Arrow believes Labor may have done a better job than the Coalition at appealing to young women this election. "We've seen some male politicians going on to influence the podcasts and trying to engage with younger voters in that way," she said. "We're seeing some kind of missteps from the Coalition's part, which perhaps reflects that they haven't learned the lessons of the 2022 election — most notably, you can see on the back flip around working from home." Emma Garvey doesn't believe the major parties have policies aimed at helping young people. ( ABC News: Billy Cooper ) Ms Garvey believes the major parties can offer much more to young people. "I feel like they're trying to appeal to young voters in general through their use of like TikTok and just jumping on trends randomly," she said. "But I don't think they're doing a lot with policy wise to really connect with them." Vote Compass is an educational tool designed to promote electoral literacy and civic engagement. While not a conventional public opinion poll, Vote Compass responses can be analysed using statistical methods similar to those used in polling to try to adjust for sampling bias. Responses have been weighted by gender, age, education, language, religion, place of residence and past vote to account for the selection effects of the sample, enabling us to make statistical inferences about the Australian population.
