New polling on behalf of the Fawcett Society of people aged 18+ living in the UK has highlighted the impact that gender stereotyping during childhood can have on the key decisions people make throughout their life.

46% of respondents said that when they were a child, they experienced expectations about how they should behave or what they could do based on their gender. 44% said they did not experience this and 11% said they did not know.

Of those who had experienced gender stereotyping as a child, 51% said the gender stereotypes they had experienced negatively affected their decisions about which careers they felt they could pursue. A quarter disagreed and the remaining respondents said neither agree nor disagree and don’t know.

Slightly less than half (48%) of this group said that the gender stereotypes they experienced negatively affected their decisions about what subjects to study at school. Significant percentages also said the gender stereotypes they experienced negatively affected their decisions about who cares for others in their family (47%), their personal relationships (44%), and their attitudes towards what it means to be a man or a woman (45%).

When looking more broadly at the impact of gender stereotyping, half of all respondents agree that stereotypes about what girls and boys can or should do have a negative effect on people’s perceptions of what it means to be a man or a woman. Only 10% disagreed with the remaining respondents saying they neither agreed nor disagreed or did not know.

45% agreed that stereotypes about what girls and boys can or should do have a negative effect on children’s subject choices at school, 46% agreed the stereotypes negatively affected young people’s career choices, and 47% agreed they impacted people’s attitudes to whether women or men should look after children.

Respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed that the Government should take action to challenge gender stereotypes about what girls and boys can do. 46% agreed while only 19% disagreed. 30% said they neither agreed nor disagreed and 5% said they did not know.

Survation polled 1018 people online aged 18 and over in the UK on behalf of the Fawcett Society.

Fieldwork was conducted between 18th-19th February 2019.

Data tables and methodology can be found here.

Survation is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

To learn more about Survation’s polling capabilities or to commission a poll, contact Harry Mason or John Gibb on 020 3818 9661 or email researchteam@survation.com.

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