According to a new global study of 23,000 people, 31% of Gen Z men (born between 1997 and 2012) agree that a wife should always obey her husband, and one third (33%) say a husband should have the final word on important decisions.

Yet, you might be surprised to learn that only 13% and 17% of Baby Boomer men agree with those statements, respectively.

By contrast, the study highlights that far fewer Gen Z women agreed that a wife should always obey her husband (18%), and an even smaller share of Baby Boomer women (6%) held that view.

“It is deeply concerning to see traditional gender norms persisting today, and more troubling still that many people appear to be pressured by social expectations that do not actually reflect what most of us believe,” said Professor Heejung Chung, Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, King’s Business School.

The 29-country survey which included Great Britain, the USA, Brazil, Australia and India, finds that young men today are more likely than those in older generations to hold traditional views about gender roles.

“Our data reveals a striking gap between people’s personal views, which are far more progressive, and what they imagine society demands of them. This gap is particularly pronounced among Gen Z men, who not only appear to feel intense pressure to conform to rigid masculine ideals, but in some cases seem to also expect women to retreat to more traditional ways of being,” continued Professor Chung.

Political and Techbro Influence

As Tim El-Sheikh discussed with Amnesty International’s former head of BigTech Accountability, Pat de Brún, the role of social media in shaping young people’s behaviours and views on the world, as seen during the 2024 far-right riots in the UK – where misinformation spread rapidly, fueled by platforms like X.

de Brún explained how design choices and policy changes under Elon Musk’s leadership contributed to the amplification of sexualisation of women, the rise of far-right content, as well as the amplification of deepfakes generated by Grok AI.

Certainly, the tech and AI sector has been repositioning itself as the incel-serving industry, and Tim has been calling this out on the podcast and LinkedIn since 2024, when we began to observe this behaviour with Character-AI.

Cindy Gallop, the prominent British-American advertising executive, campaigner, and tech entrepreneur, told Tim on the CEO Retort podcast that the tech industry’s reluctance to embrace human curation that offers a truthful and balanced view of the world is not only damaging to society but also a missed business opportunity. Particularly, when it comes to sex and gender.

Gallop also highlighted the alarming rise of toxic masculinity and rape culture, issues exacerbated by the easy accessibility of hardcore porn. She campaigned for years through her platform, MakeLoveNotPorn, to normalise and socialise real-world sex, which can, in her view, significantly counter these negative trends.

Perhaps it should not come as a surprise that, beyond generational differences, the study’s 29-country averages reveal a gap between what people personally think about gender roles within the home and what they believe society expects.

The Ipsos Data

Conducted by Ipsos in the UK and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s Business School, King’s College London, to mark International Women’s Day 2026, the survey reveals stark differences between different generations of men when it comes to gender roles:

• Almost a quarter (24%) of Gen Z men agree that a woman should not appear too independent or self-sufficient, compared with 12% of Baby Boomer men. Among women, agreement was notably lower at 15% for Gen Z and 9% for Baby Boomers.

• Attitudes toward sexual norms also differ sharply across generations: 21% of Gen Z men think a “real woman” should never initiate sex, compared with only 7% of Baby Boomer men. Just 12% of Gen Z women agreed; however, Baby Boomer women and men were aligned at 7% for this question.

• 59% of Gen Z men say that men are expected to do too much to support equality, compared to 45% of Baby Boomer men – again, this was higher than the proportion of women who share this view (41% and 30% respectively).

Despite being the most likely to believe that a woman should not appear too independent or self-sufficient, Gen Z men were also the group most likely to believe that women who have a successful career are more attractive to men, with 41% agreeing with this statement compared to 27% of Baby Boomers of both genders.

The results suggest that Gen Z men also have more traditional expectations of their own behaviour and choices than both older generations of men and their female counterparts in Gen Z. For example:

• 30% of Gen Z men who responded to the survey believe men should not say ‘I love you’ to their friends, compared to 20% of Baby Boomer men and 21% of Gen Z women.

• 43% of Gen Z men agree that ‘young men should try to be physically tough, even if they’re not naturally big’ compared to 32% of all respondents and 28% of Gen Z women.

• 21% of Gen Z men believe that men who take part in caregiving for children are less masculine than those who do not, compared with just 8% of Baby Boomer men and 14% of Gen Z women.

“This duality in perspectives opens a vital dialogue on how gender norms are being reshaped, highlighting the complex interplay between modernity and tradition and urging us to delve deeper into the cultural, social, and economic factors that influence these beliefs,” explained Kelly Beaver MBE, Chief Executive of Ipsos in the UK and Ireland.

People generally expressed more equal views, with only one in six respondents (17%) saying that women should take on most childcare, and a similar proportion (16%) believing that women should shoulder most of the household chores beyond childcare. Under a quarter (24%) believed that men should shoulder most of the responsibility for earning money.

However, many respondents believed that views towards traditional gender roles are still widely held in their country:

Over a third (35%) said they think more people in their country believe women are expected to take primary responsibility for childcare and other household work.

Four in 10 (40%) said they believe the majority of people in their country think men are expected to be the main earners.

Globally, 31% said they think people in their country believe men should have the final word on important decisions in the home, compared to just 21% who personally agree with that view.

While respondents in Great Britain were less likely than average to personally hold traditional views on household responsibilities, they still felt that society had traditional expectations.

For example, in Great Britain, only 14% personally felt that women should take on most responsibility for childcare, but 43% said that women were expected to be mostly or entirely responsible. 15% in Great Britain personally felt that men had responsibility for earning money, but 38% said that they felt society expected men to be responsible.

“Our aim should be to foster inclusive conversations that promote awareness and acceptance of diverse gender roles, paving the way for a more balanced and equitable society and a freer and more equal future for all,” said Kelly Beaver.

“Our report aims to cut through these misperceptions and show people what we as a society truly believe: that gender norms are genuinely shifting, and more and more people want a more equal, flexible approaches to gender roles. Such shifts are not only better suited to the complex demands of modern life, but are linked to greater happiness, healthier relationships, and improved well-being for men, women, and families alike,” concluded Professor Chung.