TIME, in partnership with Equality Can’t Wait, released the results of a survey on American views about gender inequality.
The TIME-commissioned survey, which was conducted by SSRS, polled a nationally representative sample between August 19 and August 29, and found that while a majority of Americans believe that gender inequality exists in the U.S., there is stark disagreement about how pervasive the issue is and what should be done about it. Notably, the results show that men don’t consider the problems of gender inequality to be as severe as women do.
Survey respondents offered opinions on multiple aspects of gender inequality, including the wage gap, representation in government and unpaid work. Findings from the poll include:
∙ About half of all respondents believe that gender equality will be reached within the next 50 years.
∙ 75% of people who took the survey believe that female workers are paid less than their male counterparts who do similar work, but only 62% of men held this belief, compared with 86% of women.
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∙ Overall, 82% of respondents think that women spend more time than men performing unpaid tasks, such as managing a household and caring for children. But based on the poll, men generally underestimate the extent of that inequality.
∙ While a majority of men see some level of inequality between the genders, a full quarter of surveyed men say that the country doesn’t need to take any steps to fight gender inequality.
∙ Younger people are more prepared to address gender equality, with 73% of people ages 18-29 believing they can positively contribute to achieving gender equality, compared to an average of 53%.
∙ 40% of respondents say closing the wage gap is the most important first step to reaching gender equality. Among parents, more than 1 in 3 say that parental support systems, such as universal childcare and federal paid parental leave, are more critical.
Equality Can’t Wait, a campaign to accelerate gender equality in the U.S., is led by Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company created by Melinda Gates.
Read TIME’s full report here: https://time.com/5667397/gender-equality-opinions/
