newswire: 7/24/2020
- According to a new study, about 4 in 10 American women say that feminism has helped them personally, with half saying it’s “neither helped nor hurt.” Women under age 50, Democrats, and those with at least a bachelor’s degree are the most likely to say it’s helped. (Pew Research Center)
- NH: This survey serves as a snapshot of where Americans are on gender equality. Most adults (57%) say there’s still progress to be made, citing issues such as sexual harassment, differential societal expectations for men and women, and not enough women in positions of power. This share has grown since 2017, when it was 50%. Furthermore, 70% of Americans also believe that feminism has done at least a fair amount to advance women’s rights in America.
- But a gap emerges when you ask women whether feminism has helped them personally. When women are asked if feminism has had a positive impact on different groups generally--e.g. on society, or on white, black, and Hispanic women--most say yes. But if asked if it’s had a positive impact on their own lives, less than half (41%) say yes. The most common answer (50%) is that it’s neither helped nor hurt. Interestingly, it’s black women (14%) and Republican women (9%)--two groups that don’t typically overlap politically--who are the most likely to say that feminism has hurt them.
- This study was released concurrently with another Pew survey asking American women if they identify as feminists. The majority do, with 42% saying the label describes them “somewhat well” and 19% “very well.” Women ages 50 to 64 (mostly first-wave Xers) are the least likely of the age groups surveyed to say “very well” (just 12%), compared to 27% of women ages 18 to 29, 19% of women ages 30 to 49, and 20% of women 65 and older.
- I find the lack of age variation here striking. Back in the early 1980s, the age gaps associated with feminism were huge. “Feminism” was code for the sexual revolution being championed by young Boomers as older generations looked on, horrified. But today, it’s Millennial women and the Boomers and Silent who are now 65+ who are most likely to identify as feminists; it’s Xers who are the least enthusiastic. But even then, the overall age gap is only 10 percentage points.
- Today the biggest gap is not age but partisanship. Fully 75% of Democratic women identify at least somewhat well as feminists, compared to 42% of Republican women. There are also double-digit percentage gaps between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to describing feminism with positive and negative words, e.g. “empowering,” “inclusive,” “outdated,” etc. There are similarly large gaps in perceptions of gender equality in the first survey as well. As is true with so many other issues, political partisanship is becoming a powerful predictor not just of how you vote--but also of your broader social and cultural views.
