Germany 'more sexist than France and UK'
The Local Germany - [email protected]
Published: 12 Nov, 2015 CET.
Updated: Thu 12 Nov 2015 15:11 CET
Germans proved to hold less progressive ideas about gender equality than their European counterparts in the UK and France, but rose above the United States, according to a new report.
Pollsters YouGov quizzed people from 24 countries in a survey published on Thursday, and found that Germany ranked eighth place for attitudes towards gender equality.
The British scored just one point higher than Germans while French people gained two points more. The only Western country in the report that performed worse than Germany was the United States.
Though the United States placed ninth after Germany, Americans scored eight points lower than Germans for their progressive attitudes.
Graph: YouGov.
The research was carried out by offering a series of statements to which respondents could agree or disagree.
Several of the statements were conservative, such as 'it is unattractive for women to express strong opinions in public', while others were more progressive, such as 'creating more opportunity for women should be one of the world's top concerns' and 'women and men should generally get equal pay'.
Swedes were most progressive when it came to their approach to gender.
"Not only do Swedish people have the most progressive attitudes to gender equality worldwide, there is virtually no gap between the views of men and women," YouGov noted.
Finland and Denmark finished in second and third place respectively.
The survey found that countries in the Middle East saw huge differences from the global averages. For example, 74 percent of respondents from the area agreed that "a wife's first role is to look after her husband".
It also noted that there is a significant relationship between gender equality attitudes and a country's GDP per capita. One exception, however, was in the US, which has seven times as much wealth per person as China, but was only marginally more progressive in gender attitudes.
In Germany, a separate survey released last month revealed ways in which gendered stigmas continue to imipact women's life choices. Only 21 percent of German women thought having children would not damage their careers - only Japan fared worse.
A report earlier this year showed that German women earn 21.6 percent less than men, making Germany the fourth-worst country for female employees in the EU.
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Pollsters YouGov quizzed people from 24 countries in a survey published on Thursday, and found that Germany ranked eighth place for attitudes towards gender equality.
The British scored just one point higher than Germans while French people gained two points more. The only Western country in the report that performed worse than Germany was the United States.
Though the United States placed ninth after Germany, Americans scored eight points lower than Germans for their progressive attitudes.
Graph: YouGov.
The research was carried out by offering a series of statements to which respondents could agree or disagree.
Several of the statements were conservative, such as 'it is unattractive for women to express strong opinions in public', while others were more progressive, such as 'creating more opportunity for women should be one of the world's top concerns' and 'women and men should generally get equal pay'.
Swedes were most progressive when it came to their approach to gender.
"Not only do Swedish people have the most progressive attitudes to gender equality worldwide, there is virtually no gap between the views of men and women," YouGov noted.
Finland and Denmark finished in second and third place respectively.
The survey found that countries in the Middle East saw huge differences from the global averages. For example, 74 percent of respondents from the area agreed that "a wife's first role is to look after her husband".
It also noted that there is a significant relationship between gender equality attitudes and a country's GDP per capita. One exception, however, was in the US, which has seven times as much wealth per person as China, but was only marginally more progressive in gender attitudes.
In Germany, a separate survey released last month revealed ways in which gendered stigmas continue to imipact women's life choices. Only 21 percent of German women thought having children would not damage their careers - only Japan fared worse.
A report earlier this year showed that German women earn 21.6 percent less than men, making Germany the fourth-worst country for female employees in the EU.
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