By Mata Press Service

A striking finding in a new global gender survey is not about women at all. It is about young men.

Across the 29 countries studied, 31 per cent of Gen Z men say a wife should always obey her husband, while 33 per cent believe the husband should have the final word in major family decisions.

The attitudes are far less common among older generations. Only 13 per cent of Baby Boomer men agreed that wives should always obey their husbands, suggesting younger men are more than twice as likely to hold traditional views about marriage roles.

Young women see things differently. Only 18 per cent of Gen Z women agreed that a wife should always obey her husband.

Researchers say the findings reflect a complicated generational moment. The same young men who say they support women having careers also appear to hold more traditional ideas about authority within relationships.

The survey, conducted by Ipsos and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London for International Women’s Day, questioned more than 23,000 people across 29 countries.

When the results are examined through an Asian lens, the picture becomes even more layered.

Several Asian countries ranked near the top globally in saying men are already being asked to do too much to support gender equality.

India – 70%

Malaysia – 68%

Indonesia – 64%

Thailand – 59%

Another question asked whether efforts to promote women’s equality have gone so far that men are now being discriminated against. Here too, Asian countries feature prominently.

Thailand – 80%

India – 67%

Malaysia – 55%

Singapore – 47%

South Korea – 47%

Indonesia – 39%

Japan – 32%

Those responses hint at the kind of cultural tensions researchers say are shaping gender debates around the world.

Yet when the broader survey results are examined, Asia itself does not move in a single direction. Instead, the region appears to tell three very different stories.

Countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia consistently ranked among the most optimistic in the global survey about women’s opportunities.

Thailand and Indonesia topped the global rankings for the belief that society would work better if more women held leadership roles in government and business.

Optimism about the next generation of women is also strongest in this part of Asia.

Singapore ranked first globally, with 71 per cent saying young women today will have a better life than their mothers, followed by Indonesia at 67 per cent.

But the same countries also showed strong support for the idea that gender equality has already progressed far enough.

Thailand again ranked first globally on that measure, with 81 per cent saying equality has gone far enough, followed by Indonesia at 78 per cent.

That combination suggests a region that broadly supports women’s advancement but is also wary of pushing the debate much further.

India stands out in the survey for a different reason.

It recorded the highest level of people identifying as feminist anywhere in the study, with 68 per cent of respondents describing themselves that way.

Support for women in leadership roles is also strong.

Yet India also ranked near the top globally in believing gender equality efforts have already gone far enough and that men are being asked to do too much to support them.

In other words, the same society that expresses strong support for women’s rights also shows signs of tension about how those changes are unfolding.

Japan and South Korea form a third cluster in the survey.

Respondents in both countries were among the least likely to identify as feminist or say society would benefit from more women leaders.

Japan in particular ranked last globally in believing gender equality has gone far enough, with just 28 per cent agreeing.

Optimism about the future also trails the rest of Asia. Only 40 per cent of Japanese respondents believed young women will have better lives than their mothers.

Views about the future for young men are even more pessimistic. Japan ranked last globally, with only 21 per cent believing young men will have better lives than their fathers.

Taken together, the survey suggests gender attitudes across Asia are evolving in uneven and sometimes contradictory ways.

In Southeast Asia, there is strong optimism about women’s opportunities alongside a growing sense that equality debates may be moving too quickly.

India shows both enthusiastic support for feminism and some of the strongest signs of backlash.

And in East Asia, many respondents appear less convinced that gender debates have delivered the kind of progress people once expected.

Other key highlights of the survey:

• A slim majority of respondents — 52 per cent across the 29 countries surveyed — said gender equality efforts in their country have already gone far enough. Researchers note this view has risen in nearly every country since a similar survey was conducted in 2019.

• More than half of men surveyed (54 per cent) said they feel men are already doing too much to support gender equality, compared with 38 per cent of women who share that view.

• About one in two men globally (52 per cent) agreed with the statement that efforts to promote women’s equality have gone so far that men are now being discriminated against. Among women, only 36 per cent agreed.

• Support for women in leadership remains strong
Despite signs of backlash, six in ten respondents worldwide still said things would work better if more women held leadership roles in government and business. Only about a quarter disagreed with that idea.

• Globally, 55 per cent believe young women will have better lives than their mothers, while only 40 per cent think young men will have better lives than their fathers.

• While relatively few people personally believe women should handle most childcare (17 per cent) or household chores (16 per cent), many think society still expects women to shoulder those responsibilities. More than a third of respondents said they believe those traditional expectations remain common in their countries.