Gender and Generational Shifts in UK Voting Trends: What Should We Think?

A consistent political phenomenon has been observed across many democracies. Gen Z, born roughly between the mid-1990s and early 2010s, exhibits a significant gender divide in social attitudes, ideals, and voting behaviours. Young women, influenced by recent feminist movements like Me Too, tend to lean towards left-wing parties. In contrast, young men show higher tendencies to support right and far-right parties, possibly due to a perceived loss of status and challenges to traditional ideals of masculinity.

According to a recent YouGov poll following the 2024 UK general elections, men and women voted very similarly with respectively 34% and 35% supporting Labour.  Though women are more likely to have voted Conservatives than men, the latter are more likely to have voted Reform UK than women. Notably, age was a key divider when it came to Conservatives support, only 8% of 18-24 years olds voted in their favour against 46% of 70 years old voters and above. Similarly, 18% of 18-24 voted for the Green Party while less than 5% of over 50 did.

Source: YouGov
 
Looking at the 18-24 age in detail we can see that while the share of Labour votes is similar between men (40%) and women (42%), women of this age group support Greens more with 23% compared to 12% of men. Men of this age group are more likely to have voted Conservatives and Reform UK with respectively 10% and 12% compared to 6% and 6% for women of the same age group.

Source: YouGov
 
Do these results indicate a lasting age and gender-based political realignment in the UK, or are they simply a contingent phenomenon?

A gender-based voting divergence has existed since the 1990s in other European countries. A study by Shorrocks covering Europe and Canada reveals that this trend is also generation specific. According to the findings, women born after 1955 are more likely to support left-wing parties compared to men of the same age group, while women born before 1955 are less inclined to do so than their male counterparts. This phenomenon seemingly correlates with women’s progressive emancipation via rising labour force participation and education rates for instance. This gender gap continues to widen with each new generation of voters. Recent election results indicate that this trend is particularly pronounced among voters under 35 in the United Kingdom.

In the UK it is relatively recently, during the 2015 and 2017 general elections, that historic voting trends were reversed. For the first time in UK politics, men showed greater support for the Conservative Party than women, while women were more supportive of the Labour Party than men. This gender gap widened in the 2019 general election, with the Conservatives leading over Labour by 18 percentage points among men, compared to a 5-percentage point lead among women.

Comparing this gender divergence with voting behaviours in the 2019 European elections reveals the potential conditional nature of this trend. In contrast to the general election held that year, neither Labour nor the Conservatives experienced a significant gender gap in support. However, women under 35 were more likely to support the Greens than any other party, while men in the same age group were most inclined to vote for the Liberal Democrats. Overall, men were more likely to support the Brexit Party than women.

By looking at women’s major concerns impacting their political preferences in the last few general elections, we can attempt to explain the phenomenon in the UK. Women’s greater worries concerning their financial situation have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic—and before that, by austerity measures—as they have been particularly impacted in the labour market and division of childcare. Women also tend to be more concerned with the provision of essential services such as the NHS, and younger women tend to see a larger role for the state with a stronger preference for redistribution compared to men. Although older women are also more left-wing in their economic policy preferences compared to men, their greater religiosity often takes precedence when casting their vote.

While the gender voting difference in the UK recent elections seems to be rather contingent, among Gen Z it might be a more persistent trend as women and men of this generation are increasingly polarised on gender and social issues such as feminism and immigration. As we move forward, it seems essential to try understanding why younger men might feel excluded from gender equality progress, this suggests the need for us to do better, as a country and a society.

Author Biography

Lou Cheron recently graduated from the University of Dundee with an MA(Hons) in Politics and International Relations. She is currently an intern for the Qualitative Election Study of Britain, a research initiative ongoing since 2010 that investigates voter behaviour during UK elections.