What is going on with people?

[Emptyandsad]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/05/gen-z-men-baby-boomers-wives-should-obey-husbands

Society seems to be going backwards! I always thought that, generation after generation, we were generally, slowly, becoming more equitable...

if that was the case then how does society explain for all the previous years and generartions before eg early 1900's etc seems society didnt need tate hes just the modern version

In the article it says "In Britain, this equated to a 12-point increase." So yes, it mainly looks globally but it still shows a significant change in the UK.

Haven't read the thread yet, but this jumped out at me straight away:

It found that gen Z males (born 1997-2012) were twice as likely as baby boomer men (born 1946-1964) to have traditional views on decision-making within a marriage, with just 13% of men in the older cohort agreeing that a wife should always obey her husband.

I'm guessing the big difference here is that the baby boomers have more experience of marriage thus have realised the reality that their wives weren't going to be subservient to them OR they want someone they love to be an equal partner.

They will also have the experience of having daughters and raised them as autonomous, independent people and don't believe they should be subservient.

I bet if you'd carried out the same survey on the baby boomers when they were younger a similar percentage would have agreed with the Gen Z cohort.

Plus when you add in the toxicity of the Manosphere and people generally being fed up which usually results in a swing to the right, its not a surprise.

They don't include the breakdown for what women think in the article, but I would be more concerned if there was an increase in Gen Z women and girls thinking that way.

As long as we raise our girls to not take that crap, the boys will either need to change their views pronto or put up with being single!

It's a case of demographics and birthrates as well. The people who have the most children are religious people. They pass on their views on women to their sons, who are getting more numerous, so I'm not surprised that we're sliding backwards.

And this is why my DD wants to stay single. She has no interest in men.
My DH is fabulous and he is a great example to her of how a man should be, so men have a lot to live up to in her eyes.

Why is it down to their mothers? And anyway, did you take notice of every single thing your mother (or father) said to you? When are MNers going to finally learn that we all have free will and we are more than what our parents told us to do or not do!

Put your Guardian down. It was 30% of male AND females in this worldwide study who said the wee wifey should obey the man. It was a leading question anyway.

Quite.

When low status men can’t get laid they turn to misogyny.

From other 8 year old who have older siblings

This has always happened - word of mouth stuff in playgrounds from an 8 year old being cool with stuff from older brothers

Ok. It could be anyone of a number of reasons (such as older generations having more actual experience of life and marriage) but sure - must be the immies!

This was a global survey by the way.

Where did you get that from?

Several posters now have pointed out that, if you read the article, the survey is global and the stated change to a belief that women should obey their husbands has not occurred in the UK.

It doesn’t say that in the article.

Might buy shares on birth control

God I would be double dropping all sorts of birth control if I was younger

I noted the absence of men performing the traditional role of being the sole provider etc etc

The point of the article is that Gen Z is more inclined to think these things than Boomers.

Well done for your daughter.
Imo, she won't miss out on much and can always change her mind.
My husband is a "boomer", I'm the X generation.
Child free, 20 years married.
He now has to "obey" me in practical stuff. 😆
He's a decent man (75), this crap apparently really wasn't on, back then.

WTF

It was global research but cited high levels of belief that wives should obey husbands in two Muslim countries, so that poster was hardly shoe horning Muslims in. Its a pretty standard for religious-conservative Muslims to believe wives should obey their husbands. Its in the Qu'ran. It sets out a three stage escalation of punishment to be imposed on disobedient wives (admonishment, abandonment from the marital bed and then physical chastisement), Surah An-Nisa (4:34).

Did you follow the links and look at the actual survey results? It breaks it down by country (like in photo attached).

Re obeying husbands, interestingly the US is pretty high up, with 23 percent agreeing. I imagine that's to do with the Christian fundamentalists. In Indonesia 66 percent agree, I imagine that's to do with Muslim fundamentalists.

It is a global survey and it doesn't anywhere in the article give evidence that there is an increase in people in the UK thinking wives should obey husbands.

I have a young adult DD and this does not surprise me. She has been in relationships and she has ended every one as the young men are controlling, obsessive, jealous, emotionally abusive and "love bomb" her. I have seen some of the messages she has received and they are shocking. I have taught her not to put up with this behaviour and thankfully she stands up for herself.

I followed your and that data is not showing an increase in beliefs that wives should obey husbands in the UK. The claim in the OP, and subsequent discussion, has been about an increase. The UK figures - not an increase - are actually really low compared to most other countries in terms of the percentage who think wives should obey their husbands.

But it does not show no increase which is what you claimed.

So it is incorrect to say “no increase in the UK”.

All it shows in the UK is current views. That could be an increase / a decrease / or no movement. We don’t know based on the article / data. The only break down we have for the UK regarding a shift in values is:

” In 2019, 42% of people globally said women’s rights had gone far enough in their country, compared with 52% now. In Britain, this equated to a 12-point increase.”

Unfortunately the breakdown by countries does not show the generational movement so we are nonthewiser on what the shift is in each country.

I think one of the biggest shocks of recent years is how little progress we had/have made towards equality of the sexes. We have a lot of work to do.