It has long been the case that American women are generally more liberal than American men. But among young Americans, this gender gap has widened into an enormous rift: According to recent Gallup polling, there is aĀ 30-point differencebetween the number of women age 18ā30 who self-identify as liberal and the number of men in that demographic who do the same.
Thatās largely because young women have gottenĀ muchĀ more liberal, while young men have stayed ideologically more consistentāor, according to other analyses, become more conservativeĀ and anti-feminist. (Of course, not every person identifies as a man or woman. But gender roles still play a big part in shaping our lives and politics, and in the context of this column, I am focusing mostly on the vastĀ majority of AmericansĀ who identify as one or the other.) Itās not happening just here either; the political divide between the sexes is a trend thatĀ researchers are observingĀ in some other countries too.
Well when who you are is being directly attacked, of course itās going to radicalize you (Iām not using that word in a negative manner either). But look at at what is happening around reproductive rights from abortion, to birth control, to maternity leave, etc. These affect a core of a person and you have a large group of people saying āwe want to control this for youā.
My exact first thought. After decades of (uneven) improvement, womenās rights are globally taking a massive hit. No wonder women are becoming more left leaning.