Young women are radicalising
Source: News Stateman
Over the past decade we have had countless opinion pieces, documentaries and dramas about dangerously disenfranchised young men, with much discussion about why they’re moving to the populist right. Frustrated and overly online young men are widely seen to be the drivers of a quiet revolution that has been taking place in youth politics: the widening gender gap. Yet not enough thought has been given to young women’s much greater movement in the opposite direction. It might not be too surprising that women’s political preferences get less attention than men’s, but that does not mean they are any less significant.
Many have noted that at the last general election young (18- to 24-year-old) men were twice as likely as young women to vote Reform, while young women were twice as likely to vote Green as young men. There was also extensive coverage given to the signs of Gen Z men backing Nigel Farage. What these observations fail to take into account is that, in fact, a smaller percentage of young men voted for Reform (12 per cent) than the general population (14.3 per cent). Actually, 18- to 24-year-old men were far less likely to have voted for Farage than every other age cohort of men, and young men were still overwhelmingly more likely to vote for left-wing or liberal parties (68 per cent voted Labour, Lib Dem or Green) than they were for a right-wing party (22 per cent voted Conservative or Reform). If voting for a populist right party is indicative of a more radical mindset, then by this metric young men were some of the least radical demographic groups of the whole country.
Over the past decade we have had countless opinion pieces, documentaries and dramas about dangerously disenfranchised young men, with much discussion about why they’re moving to the populist right. Frustrated and overly online young men are widely seen to be the drivers of a quiet revolution that has been taking place in youth politics: the widening gender gap. Yet not enough thought has been given to young women’s much greater movement in the opposite direction. It might not be too surprising that women’s political preferences get less attention than men’s, but that does not mean they are any less significant.
Many have noted that at the last general election young (18- to 24-year-old) men were twice as likely as young women to vote Reform, while young women were twice as likely to vote Green as young men. There was also extensive coverage given to the signs of Gen Z men backing Nigel Farage. What these observations fail to take into account is that, in fact, a smaller percentage of young men voted for Reform (12 per cent) than the general population (14.3 per cent). Actually, 18- to 24-year-old men were far less likely to have voted for Farage than every other age cohort of men, and young men were still overwhelmingly more likely to vote for left-wing or liberal parties (68 per cent voted Labour, Lib Dem or Green) than they were for a right-wing party (22 per cent voted Conservative or Reform). If voting for a populist right party is indicative of a more radical mindset, then by this metric young men were some of the least radical demographic groups of the whole country.