Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system
Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features…
As the far right movement gathers pace in the UK, and violence and hostility towards women deepens, a new study has found that gender inequality is worsening financial hardship in economically deprived regions.
The findings, from Kings College London, come weeks after polling by IPSOS for JOE Media Group of Gen Z voters revealed over half of men believe they’re expected to do too much to support gender equality and that it has gone “too far”, and 54% of Reform voters – many of whom are young men – believe that males are being discriminated against, as do 44% of Brexit voters.
Some of the most gender unequal regions in Britain are “left behind” communities in the north and midlands, where Reform UK saw significant gains in the May local elections.
Report author Dr Caitlin Schmid told Byline Times: “We’re seeing a lot of narratives that try to take us back to more traditional gender norms, even though our research shows that is the exact opposite of what we need, and will not address the legitimate grievances that women and men have, across the country, which have come out of decades of austerity.”
Yorkshire and the Humber, Wales and Northern Ireland have the lowest levels of gender equality, researchers found, while London and the north-west of England are the most gender equal. No local authority in the UK has achieved gender equality.
Women shouldering a larger burden of childcare and domestic work, and being under-represented in politics and leadership roles are key factors blocking regional progress towards gender equality.
The report also found that gender inequality leads to poor outcomes for both women and men, such as lower wages for women, and poorer health outcomes for men.
Dr Schmid stresses that investment in childcare infrastructure is critical if we want to “unlock greater productivity” in these deprived regions, particularly in rural areas.
In regions where men are more actively involved in childcare and domestic work, they tend to experience positive health outcomes such as higher fertility and a lower risk of suicide.
The point I always want to come back to is that it’s not a zero sum game: women’s progress does not mean men’s regress, our society and our economy depends on both doing well
Dr Caitlin Schmid, report author
Young men captured by the ‘manosphere’ often rely on this narrative to counter claims of misogyny, which was a central theme in Netflix’s Adolescence series which ignited public debate after its release in March, made UK TV history, and led to its creators meeting with the Prime Minister about how best to “protect our children”.
According to The Centre for Countering Digital Hate, the world’s largest incel online forum received 2.7 million visits between January and March 2025 which illustrates the scope of the problem impacting young men, and the role of the internet in spreading the message.
Laura Bates, author of ‘The New Age of Sexism’, also found that it takes just 30 minutes for TikTok to show extreme misogynistic content to teenage boys when they set up a new account.
But while the media focuses on young men and their far-right leanings, and painstakingly tracks the rise of Reform and its leader, Nigel Farage, little attention is paid to young women and their move to the political left. As The Guardian noted in May, ‘The real story isn’t young men supposedly voting far right. It’s what young women are up to’.
In the 2024 General Election, nearly a quarter of women aged 18-24 voted for the Green Party, around twice the number of 18-24 year old men who voted Reform.
Political scientist Cas Mudde observes: “That the media chooses nevertheless to focus on young men illustrates the male gaze that continues to dominate society, which not only means that whatever men do or think is deemed inherently important and worthy of both academic and political attention, but also sets men as the norm. This ends up strengthening the far right’s political prospects.”
Keir Starmer’s attempts to appeal to right wing voters, with anti-immigration and war-mongering policies – leading to claims that Labour are Reform-lite – hasn’t helped.
Frank Riot, a political artist from south London, told Byline Times: “I think this government has no interest in doing anything materially helpful to solve gender inequality … if they try to present themselves as being a party for women I think that’s exposed by the way they’ve treated Palestinians and trans women … the gall that they have to ride this anti-trans moment and say that it’s for the safety of women and the rights of women, while they are actively participating in a genocide in Gaza.”
The 35-year-old notes that issues like period poverty and funding for endometriosis care, “are completely ignored because they’re not politically interesting, they’re not part of the culture wars, they don’t ‘rev people up’”.
Emily Gulliksen, a postgrad international affairs student from north London, is deeply concerned about Labour’s role in the Gaza conflict. After voting Labour previously, she switched to the Greens in the last election.
The 26-year-old told Byline Times: “Even if all their other policies were super left, I still think (Gaza) would make me lose support for them…
“Housing is also a massive issue. Rent prices. How it’s impossible to live in London. If you’ve grown up in London and then it feels like you’re being pushed out of the city, you can’t live in the place you’ve grown up in anymore.
“… It seems so hard now, even if you go to uni and you get a really good job, that doesn’t guarantee you stability or certainty in the future, so those prospects … this is something that people in my circles talk about a lot.”
Phoebe Franklin recently joined the Green Party, “(after) being inspired by Zack Polanski’s leadership bid, especially at a time when the Labour Government seem determined to alienate the very voters who put them into power”.
Franklin, 26, said she was most concerned about economic inequality, the genocide in Gaza and trans rights.
ENJOYING THIS ARTICLE? HELP US TO PRODUCE MORE
Receive the monthly Byline Times newspaper and help to support fearless, independent journalism that breaks stories, shapes the agenda and holds power to account.
We’re not funded by a billionaire oligarch or an offshore hedge-fund. We rely on our readers to fund our journalism. If you like what we do, please subscribe.
The increasing Gen Z gender voting gap is not unique to the UK. Recent elections across Europe, North America and Asia have seen similar trends of disengaged young men shifting to the far right, and disillusioned young women leaning to the left.
For both groups in the UK, political neglect and economic exclusion has led to alienation and resentment.
Culture wars aside, however, the data from Kings College London suggests a return to traditional gender norms – the dream of the far right – could run the UK’s economically deprived regions even further into the ground.
