A study once again places Spain, for the second consecutive year, as the most feminist in Europe, in the sense that citizens have more strongly assumed the values ??of gender equality promoted by feminism, with 55% of the population is defined as such. However, a gender gap still persists in this identification. While 61% of Spanish women declare themselves feminists, the figure among men still does not reach a majority (48%), although it increases three points compared to the previous year.
And it is young people who most defend gender equality. with 63% of those under 35 years old identifying with the movement, compared to 50% of those between 35 and 49 years old and 52% of those over 50. But behind this majority of young people lives a large anti-feminist group, even more than their elders: 22% of those under 35 believe that men who stay at home taking care of their children are less men, compared to 9% of those over 50.
This is indicated by a survey carried out in 31 countries by Ipsos between December 22, 2023 and January 5, 2024, whose director of Public Opinion Research and Political Studies in Spain, Paco Camas, interprets these youth data: “ The most feminist and the most anti-feminist discourses coexist among the new generations in Spain. The majority of people under 25 years of age define themselves as feminists and consider that achieving equality is a matter for both boys and girls. Furthermore, with clear emphasis on them: if they do not support their cause, there is nothing to do.”
“However, reactionary positions also spread easily among youth, for example, in the conception of masculinity as incompatible with domestic tasks. Who would have thought that the vindication of the patriarchal male role of provider today has twice as much strength among kids than among their grandparents! It is an empirically proven trend that young men have moved to the right in the last five years in our country, coinciding with the political and institutional normalization of anti-feminist discourses. Action generates reaction and, hence, the polarization,” adds Camas.
This work highlights that half of the Spanish population believes that the promotion of gender equality has led to discrimination against men, an opinion more prevalent among men (55%) than among women (44%) and particularly among those 35 to 49 years old (55%). But, despite this perception, 7 out of 10 men agree that they can help continue promoting gender equality by carrying out certain actions individually; and 62% share the idea that women will not achieve equality without the active support of men.
Although progress has been made in gender equality, the perception of discrimination against women in Spain persists. 41% of Spanish society declare that women are treated worse in the work environment than men, a perception that is also reflected on social networks by 39%, placing Spain among the countries with the highest perception of inequality in Europe , only behind France (40%) and Sweden (45%).
