The perception of male violence that young men and women (15-29 years old) have of young men and women has grown unequally in recent years. While girls increasingly consider this violence to be a very serious social problem -72.4% in 2017 and 74.2% in 2021-, the percentage of boys who agree with this statement has decreased: from 54.2% in 2017 to barely 50% in 2021. In addition, one in five young men – 20% – believe that gender violence does not exist and that it is an “ideological invention”. A figure that doubles that of 2017.
These are some of the “worrying” data collected by the Youth and Gender Barometer conducted by the Queen Sofia Center on Adolescence and Youth of the FAD, which also shows an increase in the opinion that violence is “inevitable” and that, if it is of low intensity, “does not pose a problem”. The work, presented Wednesday by the general director of FAD, Beatriz Martín Padura, and the deputy director of the Queen Sofia Center on Adolescence and Youth, Anna Sanmartín, collects research conducted through 1,200 interviews with young people between 15 and 29 years on areas related to gender differences and inequalities, identities, emotional experiences and perceptions of inequality between men and women.
20% more young women consider themselves feminist
Another of the data extracted from the barometer is the increase of young women who consider themselves feminist, of more than 20% (46.1% in 2017 compared to 67.1% who do so this year), while among males it has risen nine points (from 23.6% in 2017 to 32.8% in 2021).
With these data it is not surprising that 72.9% of young women consider that gender inequalities in Spain are “large” or “very large”. A percentage that in men is reduced to 42.6%. One in ten also considers that these inequalities do not exist.
They perceive this inequality, above all, in the area of employment: half of the women consider that they are in a significantly worse position than men when it comes to accessing positions of responsibility or in terms of salaries, and 43.6% in terms of family reconciliation. Men also perceive these inequalities, but 20% less.
Violence
The study describes as “worrying” the evolution of the degree of agreement on the statements about gender violence, since among men only 50.4% consider it to be a “very serious” social problem. A percentage that has been reduced by 3.8 points since 2017. On the other hand, the categories that deny or limit the importance of this violence have experienced significant growth, especially among men (20.9% say that it does not exist).
The perception of having witnessed situations of violence is more common among women, although it is common in both cases. The most common actions are checking the mobile phone (59.7% for women, 38.7% for men), controlling what the other person does (54.5% for women, 28.4% for men), telling them who they can talk to or go out with (51.6% for women, 23.5% for men), insulting and humiliating their partner (49.8% for women, 23.5% for men) and trying to isolate them from their friends (46% for women, 22.5% for men).
More control by men
It also highlights the greater propensity to control among men than among women: 18.1% of men see it “normal” to look at their partner’s mobile phone compared to 12.7% of women, as well as the perception of jealousy as a proof of love (28% of men and 15% of women). The study also concludes that, while women are moving towards a more egalitarian perception of relationships, in the case of men there is a certain persistence of traditional gender views.
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