A study conducted by Ipsos and King's College London, surveying 23,000 people across 29 countries, has revealed something troubling: young Gen Z men are more likely than their grandfathers to believe that a wife should obey her husband. Around 31% of males aged 13 to 28 supported this view, compared to just 13% of men over 60.
The numbers are equally striking among women. Young women were more likely than their grandmothers' generation to agree with the idea of submission, at 18% compared to 6%.
Professor Heejung Chung, co-author of the study, said young men feel overlooked and frustrated by a lack of opportunity. Turning to traditional gender views is, in her words, their way of making sense of the world and holding onto the kind of power they watched their fathers and grandfathers have.
Social media plays a central role in this shift. Influencers exploit young people's frustration by pushing the idea that men need to reclaim dominance. Young people mimic what they see online, often without fully understanding what it actually means.
This is precisely why dedicated media platforms that take gender seriously matter. When young people get most of their information from social media, the narratives circulating there shape how they see the world. Mollëkuqja is currently the only media platform in North Macedonia that writes exclusively about gender issues, and the need for that kind of voice has never been greater.
Results vary significantly by country. In Sweden, only 4% of respondents agreed that a wife should always obey her husband, while in parts of Asia that figure exceeded 60%.
Globally, 44% of people believe gender equality has already done what it needed to do. But according to the UN, no country in the world has yet achieved full legal equality for women and girls. Women globally hold just 64% of the legal rights of men, leaving them exposed to discrimination and violence at every stage of their lives.
