Girl babies get pink clothes and toys, boy babies get the same in blue. But when they grow up it’s the boys whose politics trend Republican red, while the grown up girls trend Democratic blue.
Kay Hymowitz has written many interesting articles for City Journal, today’s example deals with the political divide between men and women. Men skew conservative, women skew liberal. In itself, that difference isn’t news, we’ve observed it in US politics as far back as the Reagan era.
What she reports that I didn’t know, and maybe you don’t either, is that this trend is prevalent across nearly all developed nations. She cites The Economist (U.K., behind paywall) which reports three trends.
First, it’s the women who’ve changed, they’ve moved leftwards. Second, the gap is several times wider than it was just four years ago. And third, the political gap leads to mistrust between men and women.
In addition to the gap in the US, examples are given of it in South Korea, China, Germany, and the U.K. And it has implications that go far beyond the ballot box.
That Gen Z is coming of age at a time of intense political polarization only further complicates the mating game. Fewer young people, particularly women and those identifying as Democrats, are willing to date someone who doesn’t share their politics. “No Republicans” warnings have become a common sight on dating apps; there are even apps explicitly designed to keep out undesirables from the other party. (links in original)
The gap she sees is certainly a factor in the declining percentages of young people getting married. And though she doesn’t cite it, married women tend to politically skew conservative.
Perhaps only the shrinking group of women who are somewhat conservative are finding marriage partners. Do you suppose they could be the only subgroup of women who even seek marriage? Nah.
