Although most women and men are in favour of gender equality, attitudes differ between them in some areas. The key areas of contention include representation among top executives, gender quotas and pay.
New report: “Broad consensus on gender equality is being challenged”
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A large majority of the Norwegian population, 80 per cent, thinks women and men should be equally responsible for the home and family. Illustration: iStockphoto
“Over the past fifty years, the lives of women and men have changed dramatically in terms of participation in education and the labour market, political representation and everyday life. However, we are now seeing signs that the broad consensus on gender equality as a shared value is increasingly being challenged,” says Ragni Hege Kitterød.
Kitterød is a researcher at the Institute for Social Research (ISF) and one of the authors of the report: Likestillingslandet i endring: Polariserte holdninger og oppfatninger. Resultater fra CORE Survey 2025 – likestillingsundersøkelsen. (Gender equality in transition: Polarised views and attitudes. Results from the CORE Survey 2025 – in Norwegian only).
She points out that the turbulent global situation, with democratic values, international law and gender equality under increasing pressure, may also affect attitudes toward gender equality here in Norway.
“Moreover, changes in gender equality itself may affect both how we understand it and our attitudes towards it. These changes may be reflected in perceptions of gender roles and gender equality, as well as in attitudes towards gender equality policies.”
Little variation among women
One of the questions included in the survey asked whether efforts to promote gender equality should continue. Just over 60 per cent of respondents support continuing such efforts, but this view is less common among men than among women. Support is lowest among younger men (aged 18–29). Among this group, just under 40 per cent believe that gender equality efforts should continue, while a similar proportion believe that equality has gone far enough, and nearly 20 per cent believe that it has gone too far. Among women, there is little variation across age groups.
“Some survey questions reveal strong divisions in the population, while others show a high level of consensus,” says Kitterød.
“For example, the vast majority agree that women and men should share equal responsibility for the home and family, and for supporting the family financially. But young men also stand out in this respect, as they are slightly more likely than others to believe that men should be primarily responsible for supporting the family financially,” she says.
More about the report:
CORE – Centre for research on Gender Equality at the Institute for Social Research has developed a questionnaire survey on gender equality: the CORE Survey. The first round took place in 2022, and the latest one (Gender equality in transition: Polarised views and attitudes. Results from the CORE Survey 2025) was published in April.
The CORE Survey is an online survey conducted among a sample of respondents aged 18–79, selected from the Gallup Panel. An additional sample of respondents aged 18 to 29 was drawn from the National Population Register to ensure a sufficient number of respondents in this group. A total of 4,375 people responded to the survey.
To gain a better understanding of patterns in attitudes towards gender equality within the population, the researchers behind the report used latent class analysis to identify six distinct classes or groups of gender equality attitudes:
The six groups are: 1) Gender equality critics; 2) Universal gender equality supporters; 3) Liberal gender equality supporters; 4) Moderates; 5) Traditional gender equality supporters; and 6) Uncertain or indifferent respondents. Group membership varies across gender, age, education level, geographic location and political orientation.
A generation shaped by gender equality
To gain a better understanding of what lies behind young men’s views that gender equality has gone far enough or even too far, the researchers have also produced a report on young men’s attitudes towards gender equality.
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Here, the researchers remind us that today’s young people are a generation shaped by gender equality. Most have grown up with working mothers and fathers who have played an active role at home, and they take it for granted that girls and boys should have the same opportunities. They also highlight that much attention has been paid to the fact that girls, on average, achieve higher grades than boys and are more likely to pursue higher education.
“Young men who believe that gender equality has gone far enough, or even too far, often feel that gender equality has already been achieved,” says Kitterød.
“They also point out that it is more important to focus on equal opportunities than on equal outcomes, and they are generally sceptical of gender quotas. Furthermore, many respondents say that gender equality has often been to women’s advantage. Among those who believe that gender equality has gone too far, several point out that women have more rights than men and are more often ‘protected’ by society than men.”
More on the findings:
- Asked what the greatest challenge to equality is, the largest share of respondents pointed to the issue of boys getting poorer results in school than girls. The second most frequently identified challenge was the fact that women on average make less money than men. Other frequently identified challenges were the fact that fewer boys than girls enroll in higher education and that fewer men than women work in kindergartens and schools.
- Relatively few respondents said it is a problem that more men than women are childless at 45, and that women and men choose different professions. In general, women more often than men identified gender differences as a challenge to equality than men, regardless of whether the difference favoured men or women. Men, on the other hand, more frequently pointed to differences that favoured women as a problem.
Majority in favour of shared parental responsibility
The report shows that while both women and men express support for gender equality in many areas, women are generally somewhat more gender equality-oriented than men. For example, women are more likely than men to believe that efforts to promote gender equality should continue, and they are more likely to see gender equality as an important political issue.
A large majority of the population, just over 80 per cent, believe that women and men should share equal responsibility for the home and family. Nevertheless, many feel that women still take on the larger share of responsibility at home. Many also believe that men bear the main responsibility for providing financially for the family. More than half of the respondents believe that having children can hinder women’s career prospects, whereas only around 10 per cent believe it can hinder men’s careers.
“Women are more likely than men to believe that having children can limit their career opportunities, a view more commonly held among younger women than among older women,” says Kitterød.
Women are more likely than men to support quotas, and support is strongest among voters with left-leaning political views. Scepticism is strongest among young men and voters with right-leaning political views.
Children: a barrier to career advancement?
It thus appears that younger women are more likely than older women to believe that having children can limit women’s career opportunities. Half of women aged 45 and over hold this view, while around 70 per cent of the youngest women believe that having children limits women’s career opportunities, according to Kitterød.
“In light of the fact that today’s family policies provide far better opportunities to combine parenthood and paid work than in the past, it is notable that younger women are more likely than older women to view having children as a potential constraint on women’s careers. While women in previous generations often took time away from work when their children were young, women today generally take it for granted that they will continue to work during the early years of parenthood,” says Kitterød.
“Experience of childcare responsibilities also appears to influence men’s perceptions, as fathers of school-aged children are more likely than other men to view having children as a constraint on men’s career advancement.”
The population is also divided in its attitudes towards gender quotas in politics and on corporate boards.
“Women are more likely than men to support quotas, and support is strongest among voters with left-leaning political views. Scepticism is strongest among young men and voters with right-leaning political views.”
Different views on gender differences
One of the questions asked participants to what extent they perceive gender differences in various areas as a problem. Here, women and men respond very differently.
“The largest difference emerges in views on whether it is a problem that women, on average, earn less than men. Far more women than men regard this as a problem.”
Women and men also have markedly different views on the issue of top executives. Here, more women than men believe that the underrepresentation of women among top executives is a problem.
“Men and women have relatively similar views on gender differences in schooling and education,” according to Kitterød.
“We find that women often view gender differences that disadvantage both women and men as a problem, while men are primarily concerned with gender differences that disadvantage men and boys. The only area where more men than women view the gender difference as a significant problem is childlessness.”
Slightly more men than women consider it a problem that more men than women are childless at the age of 45, but relatively few view this as a problem overall.
“As the survey is only available in Norwegian, people with an immigrant background are likely to be underrepresented. This is a limitation of the survey,” the researcher points out.
It’s interesting to see that both women and men consider systematic gender differences in educational achievement and pay to be the most important gender-equality issues.
“Interesting patterns”
“The report highlights many interesting patterns in public attitudes toward gender equality,” says Siri Øyslebø Sørensen, director of the Centre for Gender Research at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
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The professor is not surprised that women are more supportive of gender equality than men, given that gender equality policies have historically been closely linked to the women’s movement.
“However, it is particularly interesting that men’s views on gender equality vary more widely than women’s,” she says.
“As the widening gender gap in support for gender equality is largely attributed to young men expressing increasingly negative views on the issue, I am interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the factors behind this trend.”
The report shows, for example, that men with higher education tend to be more engaged with gender equality issues than men with lower levels of education. It also shows that support for gender equality and gender equality policies is shaped by party preference in largely the same way among women and men, Sørensen points out.
“This means that support for gender quotas is higher among voters on the political left than among voters on the political right, irrespective of gender,” she says.
“Given that more women than men pursue higher education, and that men are more likely than women to identify with the political right, this suggests that attitudes toward gender equality may be shaped by more complex social and cultural processes.”
Sørensen also believes it is important to develop a deeper understanding of gender politics online.
“The public is more fragmented than before. Many people form their views and opinions based on information shared on digital platforms that are characterised by extreme viewpoints and emotions.”
“An important description of the situation
In all such surveys, the questions themselves impose certain limitations, Sørensen points out.
“What we don’t learn from this survey is how people perceive potential gender-equality challenges beyond the issues covered here, such as those related to violence and health. These issues are discussed in the report.”
Sørensen believes the research could also have an impact on future theories of gender equality.
The article has been translated from Norwegian by Totaltekst.
“The report provides an important overview of the situation and highlights many nuances and distinctions that are important to bear in mind when discussing gender equality,” she says.
“It’s interesting to see that both women and men consider systematic gender differences in educational achievement and pay to be the most important gender-equality issues. This suggests an understanding of gender equality that is consistent both with the principle of equal opportunities, which boys don’t seem to enjoy at school, and with the principle of fairness, which women don’t experience when it comes to pay.”
After all, equality means an equal distribution, whether of resources, opportunities or influence, Sørensen points out.
“So, when people say they agree that ‘gender equality has gone too far’, it’s natural to assume that they mean that ‘women’s rights’, or perhaps the rights of other minorities, are taking up too much space. Perhaps this reflects some unease about the challenge to traditional gender norms. These are precisely the things it would be interesting to understand better.”
The article has been translated from Norwegian by Totaltekst.
