Young Canadian men more likely to say gender equality has gone ‘far enough’

Canadian adult men under the age of 35 are more likely to say gender equality has gone “far enough” and hold traditional views of gender roles than the general population, new polling data suggests.

The Ipsos data found 57 per cent of young males surveyed think Canada has done enough in giving women equal rights to men, compared to 40 per cent of Canadians overall.

One-quarter of male respondents under 35 said they agreed that “a husband should have the final word on important decisions made in his home,” while 54 per cent believe the promotion of gender equality has reached the point of discriminating against men.

Both numbers also exceeded the general population responses by double digits.

“It’s heartbreaking, it’s upsetting, but it’s not surprising,” said Humberto Carolo, CEO of White Ribbon Canada, an organization focused on engaging men and boys on healthy relationships and ending gender-based violence and misogyny.

“This is the kind of ideology that younger men are being more and more exposed to nowadays (online),” he added. “We have a new generation of boys and young men growing up with these kinds of sexist, misogynistic, outdated norms, and you see that reflected in this new data.”

The results were part of a 29-country survey by Ipsos and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London that was released last week.

Ipsos shared the detailed Canadian findings with Global News on Thursday.

Overall, Canada was among the countries with the most positive views on gender equality among those surveyed, which included the United States, Britain, India, Brazil, Japan and South Africa.

Across questions like whether gender equality has gone far enough, if men are being discriminated against, and whether men are expected to do “too much” to support equality with women, Canadians overall were below the 29-country average by as much as 12 points.

Canadians were also less likely than the global average to agree with statements like wives should “obey” their husbands, that young men should strive to be physically tough, or that women shouldn’t appear “too independent.”

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However, the share of Canadians who said gender equality has gone far enough in their country is up six points from last year.

And, as with the global average, attitudes become more traditional and negative towards equality when moving from older generations to younger age groups, particularly among men.

Carolo said the data reflects bigger challenges that mirror the organization’s own research, and are part of a larger global trend.

“Our own research has confirmed that, increasingly, boys and young men are being exposed to very sexist, outdated and misogynistic beliefs and attitudes and ideologies” on social media and within social and gaming platforms online, he said.

“Our research has indicated that four out of five educators have seen these kinds of misogynist and sexist ideas play out before them in their classrooms, and a majority of them have seen actually the transition from that kind of belief, that attitude, into actual acts of harassment and gender-based violence in classrooms and in schools.”

Ipsos also found that Canadian adults under 35 were less likely to agree with negative or traditional gender statements than younger age groups in other countries.

For example, while 26 per cent of 18-to-35-year-olds in Canada said husbands should have the final word on household decisions, the global average was 28 per cent for millennials — who would be between 31 and 46 years old in 2026 — and 33 per cent for Generation Z, who are between ages 14 and 30.

The poll also found a majority of Canadian adults under 35 generally believe achieving equality between men and women is personally important to them.

However, there was a 16-point gap between men and women in this age group, with 61 per cent of young men agreeing versus 77 per cent of women.

Women under the age of 35 were found to be much more positive toward gender equality and negative toward traditional gender roles compared to men.

Asked if they believe women won’t achieve equality with men in Canada unless there are more female leaders in business and government, 68 per cent of young women said yes — 31 points above young men who said the same.

Similarly large gaps were found on questions like whether the push for equality is discriminating against men (just 27 per cent of young women agreed versus 54 per cent of young men) and whether men are being asked to do too much to support gender equity (25 per cent versus 50 per cent)

Carolo said it was important for educators and organizations like White Ribbon to have the resources necessary to compete with viral online communities that oppose equality and that promote misogyny, often referred to as the “manosphere.”

He also stressed that education on healthy relationships and views on women needs to start younger than middle school or older grades of elementary school so that when boys encounter these narratives, they can reject them.

“Otherwise, our younger generations are falling into these kinds of ideologies that are not good for any of us — especially for women and girls who are on the receiving end of those misogynistic treatments and attitudes and behaviours, the violence and the harassment,” he said.

These are the results of a 29-country survey conducted by Ipsos on its Global Advisor online platform between Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, and Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. For this survey, Ipsos interviewed a total of 21,028 adults aged 18- 74 in Canada, Republic of Ireland, Malaysia, South Africa, Türkiye, and the United States, 20-74 in Thailand, 21-74 in Indonesia and Singapore, and 16-74 in all other countries. The sample consists of approximately 2,000 individuals in Japan, 1,000 individuals each in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico, Spain, and the U.S., and 500 individuals each in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand, and Türkiye.

The “29-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. The precision of Ipsos online polls is calculated using a credibility interval with a poll of 1,000 accurate to +/- 3.8 percentage points and of 500 accurate to +/- 5.0 percentage points. Percentages cited may not always add to 100% or to the sum of each value due to the effects of rounding.

For full methodological details on the study, please refer to the full International Women’s Day Global Report.