Economic and Institutional Factors for Widening Gender Ideological Divides: A Cross‑Cultural Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Increasing ideological divergence over gender norms among young men and women has become observable across multiple societies worldwide. This paper adopts a cross‑cultural comparative approach to analyze how labour‑market restructuring and formal institutional design shape diverging gender attitudes. This paper finds that economic shifts toward knowledge‑intensive service industries improve women's educational advantages and economic independence. However, diverging gender ideologies trigger status anxiety among some male groups. Incomplete implementation of gender‑equality policies without supporting social measures may unintentionally widen ideological divides, as illustrated by cases from East Asia. This study highlights prominent within‑group heterogeneity: not all young women support egalitarian gender norms, nor do all young men rigidly adhere to traditional gender scripts; individual positions are shaped by education, household socioeconomic conditions and residential backgrounds. Future research should disentangle the two‑way causal mechanisms between individual gender attitudes, algorithm‑driven digital environments and multi‑layered socioeconomic‑institutional contexts, rather than treating youth groups as homogeneous units.