The findings of a survey by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (King’s College London) and the market research company Ipsos, released in conjunction with International Women’s Day 2026, has indicated an alarming set of beliefs among Gen-Z men. The survey was conducted online and had over 23,000 respondents from 29 countries across continents, including India. Respondents included both men and women, from the generations known as Gen-Z (born after 1997), Millennial (born 1981-1996), Gen-X (born 1965-1980) and Baby Boomer (born 1946-1964).
Thirty-one per cent of Gen-Z men surveyed feel that women should be obedient to their husbands, and 33% feel that men should be the key decision-makers within marriage. Interestingly, these views were less progressive than those of older men. Among Baby Boomer men, only 13% and 17% admitted to holding these beliefs, respectively.
One can hypothesise on why older people, often regarded as being more conservative, would seem to have less regressive views than one might expect. There is, of course, the possibility that many more decades of male privilege may just have led to smarter lying, but that’s a little uncharitable to presume. Cognitive bias towards oneself might be another take, but that begs the question as to why fewer younger men indicate the same in this survey.
After all, the “male feminist” is a personality trope that many millennial and Gen-Z women are wary of. The optimistic explanation is that more life experience, plus having been raised in eras when the feminist movement made great strides, may have just made Baby Boomer respondents have better mindsets, and hopefully better actual behaviour. That the youngest generation of male adults alive today operates with these opinions is in line with a rising backlash to feminism worldwide — as seen in everything from rollbacks of reproductive rights in the USA and the The Men’s Rights Movement (MRA) in India to the tradwife phenomenon online. Worryingly, 18% of Gen-Z women versus only 6% of Baby Boomer women — also agreed with these statements.
The survey also had a range of other questions, about women’s careers, sex and traditional gender roles. Among these, another striking set of responses shows that the idea that “men who take part in caregiving are less masculine than men who don’t” has steadily re-entrenched itself collectively over time. While only 8% and 6% of Baby Boomer men and women said they think this, 21% and 14% Gen-Z men and women do, and each successive generation in between grew more assured in this belief.
Timing the release of the findings of this survey to coincide with International Women’s Day is a move that anyone who observes the true meaning of the occasion will appreciate. International Women’s Day, which originated as International Working Women’s Day and had revolutionary roots, has been co-opted by capitalist motivations to the extent that the vast majority of people believe that it is a celebration, not unlike a mass birthday or Mother’s Day. The King’s College survey offers data — data that is recognisable in what we see reflected in the world — rather than an eyewash of roses and chocolates. Its sobering facts correspond with what many women experience on every day of the year.