Is gender equality coming at the expense of men? Ipsos survey’s findings

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.

Among the key findings:

• Globally, seven in 10 people (68%) agree that there is inequality between men and women in terms of social, political, and/or economic rights in their country, down slightly from 2017. Most Asian markets echo similar views, including India (81% agree), Malaysia (76%), Thailand (75%), and Australia (71%).
• One in two (54%) people globally say that when it comes to giving women equal rights to men, things have gone far enough in their country which has beengradually increasing since 2019. The Asian markets of Indonesia (80%), China (79%), Thailand (79%) and India (74%) have the highest proportion of people agreeing with this view.
• There are concerns about the impact of equality on men, with half globally (54%) agreeing men are expected to do too much to support equality, which is also an increase on 2019). The Asian markets of India (76%), China (69%) and Malaysia (65%) have the strongest agreement in the region.
• Almost (48%) of people globally agree that things have gone so far in promoting women’s equality that men are being discriminated against.Indians (74%) felt most strongly about the discrimination among Asian countries, while citizens of Malaysia (52%), Australia (51%) and Singapore (48%) displayed polarised views.
• Three in five (62%) globally agree that there are actions they can take to help promote equality. Throughout Asia, Chinaranked higher than the global average on this issue (78%), followed by India (76%), Thailand (75%), Malaysia (73%), Indonesia (71%), Singapore (65%) and Australia (59%).
• More than half of people globally (56%) report that they have taken at least one action in the past yearand most Asian countries displayed similar opinions, particularly in India, China, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
• More than one third of people globally (37%) are scared to speak out for women's rights because of repercussions – up from 2017.Asian countries most scared to speak on women’s rights were India (65%), Malaysia (58%), Thailand (52%), Singapore (44%), South Korea (37%), China (36%), Indonesia (35%), Australia (31%) and Japan (25%).

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 the genders as men are perceived to be getting a short shrift with no focus on them. Inclusion for both genders is important.”

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.”

Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India, said, “The survey shows that there is inequality between men and women despite all the work done to bridge the gap in providing gender parity. Interestingly, Indians like other global and Asian citizens claim to be taking different actions for promoting gender equality. At Ipsos India we provide an equitable, gender-neutral environment to enable personal growth for all. We provide a hybrid working and now even Work From Anywhere to enable employees to balance their work and life.”

Balaji Pandiaraj, IWD Initiative Lead, Ipsos India, said, “Our new global IWD Survey 2023 data reveals positive outlook towards #genderequality in India. Breaking social barriers, Indians are seen becoming more open, in promoting equality however there is a sense of biasness where men feel there is too much is being expected out of them in promoting Equality.”

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% 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%), and followed by Malaysia (76%), Thailand (75%), Australia (71%), South Korea (71%), Indonesia (70%), Singapore (63%), China (63%) and Japan (61%).

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% global average). Asian countries, too, have similar views higher than the global average, led by Indonesia (82%), India (73%), Malaysia (71%), Australia (84%), Singapore (62%), China (61%), Thailand (61%), South Korea (55%) and Japan (50%).

The majority globally (62%) say there are actions people can personally take to help promote equality between men and women. MostAsian countries endorsethis view including China (78%), India (78%), Thailand (75%), Malaysia (73%), Indonesia (71%), Singapore (65%) and Australia (59%).

More than half globally (55%) believe equality between men and women will be achieved in their lifetime – the Asian markets most optimistic were Thailand (80%), China (76%), India (74%), Malaysia (68%), Singapore (61%), Indonesia (56%), and Australia (50%) - 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% global country average) than for young men (42%). Asian markets predominantly believing young people will have a better life than their parents were China (69%), India (63%), Singapore (62%), Indonesia (59%), Australia (57%), Thailand (56%), South Korea (59%) and Malaysia (49%).

When asked whether gender equality mainly benefits women, mainly benefits men, or is good for both men and women, half globally (53%) say it is good for both genders, with a further 18% saying it mainly benefits women. Men are more likely than women to agree that gender equality mainly benefits women (22% of men compared to 13% of women). Only 8% say that gender equality mainly benefits men. Asians believe gender equality benefits both men and women – especially among citizens of Indonesia (71%), China (68%), Thailand (65%), Singapore (62%), Australia (56%), Malaysia (56%) and India (50%).

A majority (54% 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%), China (79%), Thailand (79%), India (74%), Singapore (62%), Malaysia (59%), South Korea (46%), Australia (43%) and Japan (21%).

Almost half (48%) of global citizens agree that we have gone so far in promoting women’s equality that we’re discriminating against men. India (74%) has a stronger view on this than other Asian markets such as Malaysia (52%), Australia (51%), Singapore (48%), South Korea (46%), China (45%), Indonesia (37%) and Japan (30%). 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% to 52% 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%) 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%). This is echoed by India (33%), Indonesia (32%), Malaysia (29%), Australia (26%), Thailand (25%) and Singapore (23%).

Three in 5 (59%) 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%), speaking up when a friend or family member made a sexist comment (21%), and talking about gender equality at work (21%). However, more than a third globally (37%) said they have taken no action in the past year.

More than a third of people globally (37%) 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% to 33%. 

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.