As part of our UK Youth Poll 2025, we have analysed the data by certain demographic themes to highlight groups that show continuous differences in their answers. This is an extract from the report highlighting one such theme. To dive deeper and read the full report, access the document on UK Youth Poll 2025.
One of the demographics that makes a difference in many questions is that of gender.
Whether someone is a man or a woman seems to be significant in how they answer particular questions, whether that concerns political engagement, news consumption or levels of anxiety.
Political views and issues
Let’s start with left-right affiliation of men and women. Question 7 asked respondents to place themselves on the political spectrum from left to right. Firstly, it’s important to state that the majority of both genders put themselves in the centre: 51% of men and 43% of women. Looking at left and right, however, reveals some differences. Whereas women chose ‘Left’ 20% of the time, men only did so 13% of the time. This is even more stark in reverse for the ‘Right’ option: women chose this 15% and men 26% of the time.
“...the majority of both genders put themselves in the centre...”
These left- and right-leaning tendencies of each gender respectively are woven through many of the answers to the questions we have asked, for example on feelings towards political parties. Taking the Conservative party, 20% of men said they felt ‘warm’ to the party while 29% said they felt ‘cold’ (on a 1–10 scale, cold = 1-3 and warm = 8–10). For women, the figures were 12% ‘warm’ and 41% ‘cold’. Similarly on Reform UK, 26% of men said they felt ‘warm’ to the party and 29% felt ‘cold’. For women, the respective figures are 15% ‘warm’ and 37% ‘cold’. Interestingly, these contrasting numbers were not found among more left-leaning parties.
The gap found in the left-right question can be seen in other questions too; though as with that question, it is important not to exaggerate. For example, in our question asking young people whether they preferred a dictatorship over a democracy, 57% of both genders said they disagreed. However, slightly more men agreed than women: 31% compared to 24%.
[…]Views on political engagement and specific issues also reveal some gender differences. To start with, the statement ‘The UK treats young people fairly compared to older generations’ elicited more agreement from young men (men – 48%, women – 37%). When asked whether they would get involved in organised politics, young men were also more likely to agree: 40% said yes, compared to 31% of women. […]
Young men’s higher willingness to get involved in organised politics was displayed when asked which of a variety of political actions they had taken part in in the last 12 months: men were more likely to have volunteered for a political party or candidate, as well as more likely to have attended a public meeting on local affairs and contacted a politician. Women, in contrast, were more likely to have signed a petition.
Moving away from engagement and towards specific issues that young people deem important, we can spot some differences between genders as well. When asked to pick the most important issues the UK is facing today, both genders picked very similar issues. However, the emphasis was clearer among women:
- Healthcare: 45% – women, 30% – men
- Housing: 37% – women, 26% – men
- Mental Health: 28% – women, 22% – men
- Political trust and corruption: 12% – women, 19% – men
- Women’s rights: 16% – women, 5% – men
Reflecting these priorities in further questions, women were eight percentage points more likely to choose ‘More investment in the NHS’ and ‘Affordable housing’ as priorities than men (although both rated highly for men as well). Equally, having a ‘mental health worker in every school’ found more support among women (20%) than men (13%).
[…]Current worries and life outlook
Another area that brings gender differences to the fore is that of everyday worries and life outlook. Overall, men and women stated similar levels of optimism about their future and general life happiness. However, when asked ‘How often do you feel nervous, anxious or on edge, or do you not feel this way?’ women reported higher anxiety levels than men: 33% said they felt anxious daily, compared to 20% of men. As for reasons why, women for example ranked ‘financial worries’ more than men: 43% to 32%. Women also said they were much more worried about ‘Academic pressures’ with 22% of respondents choosing this as a factor compared to 16% of men.
When asked ‘What are the most positive things in your life right now?’, women were more likely to choose those options that can be grouped by ‘Relationships with others’:
- Significant other: 37% – women, 26% – men
- Family: 55% – women, 44% – men
- Friends: 44% – women, 39% – men
It is important to note that these three items ranked highly with men as well, just not with as much emphasis as with women. By contrast, men appear to value their jobs and career slightly higher than women (18%, women – 13%). Interestingly, men appear to be more optimistic about finding a job than women. 39% of men deemed it very or somewhat easy to find a job after finishing education compared to 28% of women.
Societal issues
A final theme to look at under the lens of gender is that of societal issues where marked gender differences emerged. When asked to state their level of agreement for the statement ‘Racism is a significant issue in the UK today’, 39% of women strongly agreed compared to only 29% of men.
When asked to state their view on the statement ‘Feminism has done more harm than good’, more than a half of men – 52% – said they either strongly or somewhat agreed compared to 31% of women. Meanwhile, when asked for their view on whether ‘toxic masculinity is becoming more common among young UK men’ 74% of women either strongly or somewhat agreed compared to 61% of men.
In summary, our poll shows that on some issues and questions, men and women differ in their answers, sometimes considerably. Equally, we have also seen that for many questions the majority of respondents answer similarly. As with other findings in our poll, nuance is needed when interpreting the data. Men’s and women’s views do differ but, on many issues – such as political leanings and toxic masculinity – they are more alike than not. When talking with and about Gen Z, it feels important to not over-emphasise gender differences and possibly foster a self-fulfilling prophecy. Furthermore, correlation is not causation. Just because someone is a woman does not automatically predispose them to certain answers, and vice versa.
As with so many things, gender is only one of a multitude of factors that might have an impact on what someone thinks and supports, albeit one to consider and keep in mind.
