A story that has been sparking conversation recently is that young men and women are supposedly more divided when it comes to politics than young people of former generations, with women being more on the left and men moving to the right. But is this political gender gap a consistent reality across Europe? New evidence on ideological self-placement from 32 European countries suggests: not everywhere, and not as much as you might think.
It is critical to understand ideological shifts among young people. Today's 20-somethings are tomorrow's political leaders, voters, and opinion shapers. Should gender turn into a defining fault line in political identity, it could reshape everything. This includes dynamics of families, romantic relationships and social networks. This is why the supposed divide between genders has become a captivating story – but is it accurate?
Previous studies have shown that there used to be a contrasting difference in Western countries: In comparison to men, women tended to vote for conservative parties more than men did and place themselves further to the right of the political spectrum. Since the 1980s, however, a transition has occurred towards a modern gender gap. Today, women are casting their votes more to the left, and in surveys, they tend to locate themselves further to the left than men do.
Richard Nennstiel (University of Bern) and Ansgar Hudde (University of Cologne) have conducted a large-scale study to further explore this potential political divide between young people nowadays. Their study examines the ideological shifts among young men and women in 32 European countries from 1990 to 2023, and the correlation with the level of gender equality in the respective country. Using data from multiple Eurobarometer surveys, the self-placement on the left–right spectrum of over 466,000 individuals aged 20–29 was analysed.
Findings suggest that in 14 of the 32 countries studied, there is no meaningful difference in political ideology between young men and women. In many of these countries, they have followed strikingly parallel ideological trajectories for decades. The remaining 18 countries do show a recent gender gap, with women tending to lean more to the left than men. However, these differences are generally small to moderate, not drastic.
The reasons behind these changes also vary. In some countries, for example Sweden and Denmark, the gap is widening because young men are drifting right while women move left. In others, such as Spain and the United Kingdom, the gap is growing primarily because women are shifting left faster than men. Intriguingly, the gender gap is largest in countries with the highest levels of gender equality, especially in the Nordics. This aligns with theories suggesting that greater equality may make people more sensitive to remaining disparities, particularly women.
Despite popular perception, there is no clear evidence of a broad rightward shift among young men. In most countries, their ideological positions have remained stable or have even moved slightly to the left over time.
This indicates that while gender divides are emerging in some places, Europe's youth remains politically diverse and is less polarised than headlines might suggest.