Gen Z Men Will Never Be Breadwinners

Drawing on a 2025 Ipsos/Global Institute for Women's Leadership survey of 23,000+ people in 29 countries (in which nearly a third of Gen Z men said a wife should obey her husband), Jagielnicka argues that the structural disappearance of the male-breadwinner economy collides with status anxiety to drive young men toward 'traditional' gender ideals. The manosphere and right-wing populists exploit this by promising a return to the past — but pushing women out of the workforce would, via the 'lump of labor' fallacy, ultimately shrink the economy rather than restore male wages.