Gender Equality Comes At Expense of Men, Half Believe: Survey
The majority of countries in Asia are committed to gender equality, however, half believe that the move to equality has come at the expense of men, a new global study conducted in 32 countries by Ipsos in collaboration with the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London for International Women’s Day has revealed.
Hamish Munro, Ipsos APAC CEO, said: "Every year on International Women’s Day all countries take stock of how they are performing in promoting gender equality. Our survey findings show there is still a lot to be done to foster a conducive environment for gender equality. This year’s theme of #EmbraceEquity, lays emphasis on equity, but this should apply for both genders as men are perceived to be getting short shrift with no focus on them. Inclusion for both genders is important."
Among the key findings:
Ena Rivera, Ipsos APAC HR Director, said: "Ipsos celebrates women and men. We celebrate our differences and make all employees comfortable in who they are. As the best place to work in the industry, we have imbedded diversity and inclusion in the business where all of us belong at Ipsos and have equal access to opportunities. Last year, we introduced work from anywhere arrangement to enable our colleagues to integrate work with life and achieve balance.”
Findings in detail – global and Asia
Most agree that there is inequality between men and women – but differ on whether men benefit from gender equality
A global average of 68 per cent agree there is currently inequality between men and women in terms of social, political, and/or economic rights in their country. In Asia, inequality between men and women in terms of social, political, and economic rights is claimed across most countries, led by India (81 per cent), and followed by Malaysia (76 per cent), Thailand (75 per cent), Australia (71 per cent), South Korea (71 per cent), Indonesia (70 per cent), Singapore (63 per cent), China (63 per cent) and Japan (61 per cent).
There is a similar level of agreement that women won’t achieve equality in their country unless men take action to support women’s rights (64 per cent global average). Asian countries too have similar views higher than the global average, led by Indonesia (82 per cent), India (73 per cent), Malaysia (71 per cent), Australia (84 per cent), Singapore (62 per cent), China (61 per cent), Thailand (61 per cent), South Korea (55 per cent) and Japan (50 per cent).
The majority globally (62 per cent) say there are actions people can personally take to help promote equality between men and women. Most Asian countries endorse this view including China (78 per cent), India (78 per cent), Thailand (75 per cent), Malaysia (73 per cent), Indonesia (71 per cent), Singapore (65 per cent) and Australia (59 per cent).
More than half globally (55 per cent) believe equality between men and women will be achieved in their lifetime – the Asian markets most optimistic were Thailand (80 per cent), China (76 per cent), India (74 per cent), Malaysia (68 per cent), Singapore (61 per cent), Indonesia (56 per cent), and Australia (50 per cent) - across the 25 countries that took part.
People around the world believe young people will have a better life than their parents’ generation – although a larger proportion feel optimistic about the future of young women (51 per cent global country average) than for young men (42 per cent). Asian markets predominantly believing young people will have a better life than their parents were China (69 per cent), India (63 per cent), Singapore (62 per cent), Indonesia (59 per cent), Australia (57 per cent), Thailand (56 per cent), South Korea (59 per cent) and Malaysia (49 per cent).
When asked whether gender equality mainly benefits women, mainly benefits men, or is good for both men and women, half globally (53 per cent) say it is good for both genders, with a further 18 per cent saying it mainly benefits women. Men are more likely than women to agree that gender equality mainly benefits women (22 per cent of men compared to 13 per cent of women). Only 8 per cent say that gender equality mainly benefits men. Asians believe gender equality benefits both men and women – especially among citizens of Indonesia (71 per cent), China (68 per cent), Thailand (65 per cent), Singapore (62 per cent), Australia (56 per cent), Malaysia (56 per cent) and India (50 per cent).
A majority (54 per cent globally) agree that when it comes to giving women equal rights to men, things have gone far enough in their country – a view a shared by Indonesia (80 per cent), China (79 per cent), Thailand (79 per cent), India (74 per cent), Singapore (62 per cent), Malaysia (59 per cent), South Korea (46 per cent), Australia (43 per cent) and Japan (21 per cent).
Almost half (48 per cent) of global citizens agree that we have gone so far in promoting women’s equality that we’re discriminating against men. India (74 per cent) has a stronger view on this than other Asian markets such as Malaysia (52 per cent), Australia (51 per cent), Singapore (48 per cent), South Korea (46 per cent), China (45 per cent), Indonesia (37 per cent) and Japan (30 per cent). On average across 25 countries, the proportion of people who think men are being expected to do too much to support equality has risen by 9 points from 43 per cent to 52 per cent between 2019 and 2023.
Day-to-day incidents of sexism persist, but most say they’re able to take action – despite an increasing belief that there’s risk in doing so
Four in 10 globally (43 per cent) report witnessing at least one of type of gender discrimination in the past year, with the most common being hearing a friend or family member make a sexist comment (27 per cent). This is echoed by India (33 per cent), Indonesia (32 per cent), Malaysia (29 per cent), Australia (26 per cent), Thailand (25 per cent) and Singapore (23 per cent).
Three in 5 (59 per cent) globally say they have taken at least one action to promote gender equality in the past year. The most common actions taken include talking about gender equality with family or friends (32 per cent), speaking up when a friend or family member made a sexist comment (21 per cent), and talking about gender equality at work (21 per cent). However, more than a third globally (37 per cent) said they have taken no action in the past year.
More than a third of people globally (37 per cent) say they are scared to speak out and advocate the equal rights of women because of what might happen to them. Between 2017 and 2023, the average proportion of people across 22 countries feeling scared to speak out has risen from 24 per cent to 33 per cent.
Finally, younger generations are more optimistic about the future than older age groups, but they are also more cautious about the risk of speaking out and more concerned that gender equality negatively impacts men.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
These are the results of a 32-country survey conducted by Ipsos on its Global Advisor online platform. Ipsos interviewed a total of 22,508 adults aged 18-74 in the United States, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa, and Turkey, 20-74 in Thailand, 21-74 in Indonesia and Singapore and 16-74 in 24 other markets between Friday, December 22, 2022 and Friday, January 6, 2023.
The sample consists of approximately 2,000 individuals in Japan, 1,000 individuals in each of Australia, Brazil, Canada, mainland China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, and the U.S., and 500 individuals in each of Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
The samples in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the U.S. can be taken as representative of their general adult population under the age of 75.
The samples in Brazil, Chile, mainland China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and the UAE are more urban, more educated, and/or more affluent than the general population. The survey results for these countries should be viewed as reflecting the views of the more “connected” segment of their population.
The data is weighted so that each country’s sample composition best reflects the demographic profile of the adult population according to the most recent census data.
“The Global Country Average” reflects the average result for all the countries and markets where the survey was conducted. It has not been adjusted to the population size of each country or market and is not intended to suggest a total result.
Where results do not sum to 100 or the ‘difference’ appears to be +/-1 more/less than the actual, this may be due to rounding, multiple responses, or the exclusion of “don't know” or not stated responses.
The precision of Ipsos online polls is calculated using a credibility interval with a poll of 1,000 accurate to +/- 3.5 percentage points and of 500 accurate to +/- 5.0 percentage points. For more information on Ipsos' use of credibility intervals, please visit the Ipsos website.
The publication of these findings abides by local rules and regulations.
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