Almost one in three Gen Z men (31 percent) believed that a wife should always obey her husband. Generation Z includes people born between 1997 and 2012. 57 percent of Gen Z men shared the opinion that equality for women had been promoted to the point that men were now being discriminated against.

And 24 percent of male respondents born between 1997 and 2012 rejected women who appeared too independent or independent. A similar number of Gen Z men found it unmasculine for their peers to participate in child care.

Researcher rates answers as “terrifying”

The young men’s views are surprisingly traditional – at least according to the Ipsos study. The MDR spoke about the results with Robert Grimm, a doctor of sociology and head of the political research department at Ipsos Germany.

He rated it as “quite frightening”. many Gen Z men stated that wives must obey their husbands. For Grimm, the study shows above all that the younger generation is more inclined to oppose equality between men and women than older generations.

Because: Men of the Boomer generation – including those born between 1946 and 1964 – usually answered the wife question differently. Only 13 percent in the Ipsos study were of the opinion that women should submit to their husbands. And only twelve percent of boomer men rejected women who appeared too self-sufficient or independent.

Young men in a “field of tension”

Grimm believes that identity issues in younger men This could be the reason for the sometimes very conservative attitudes. “Much of what is discussed in public about masculinity is negative,” he told MDR.

“At the same time, we also want young men to take up arms and do military service.” The sociologist speaks of a “field of tension” in which they may find it difficult to find their way.

According to Grimm, social networks can also play a central role in the development of conservative views. On the one hand, certain images of women are present there, and on the other hand, radical opinions are propagated.

The sociologist means the so-called “manosphere”. This is a collective term for online communities, blogs and forums in which anti-feminist and misogynistic opinions are expressed. There are several gradations. From “masculinity coaching” to extreme misogyny, everything is represented in the “Manosphere”.

This is what lies behind the “Manosphere”

The political scientist Dominik Hammer from the Institute for Strategic Dialogues (ISD) said on “Deutschlandfunk Kultur” in mid-February, The feeling there is that “modern society is anti-male and puts men at a disadvantage.”

The Ipsos study is an international investigation. A total of 23,268 people from 29 countries were surveyed. Compared to other countries, Germany is in the middle when it comes to attitudes towards equality between men and women, says sociologist Grimm.