
More crisis are coming
According to the New Statesman’s exclusive investigation and polling by Merlin Strategy, an epidemic of despair is spreading among Gen Z women. These young women are more progressive than any demographic, yet they’re also the most unhappy and hopeless. Only 50% of women under 30 view men positively, compared to 72% of men who view women positively. Young women are 26 percentage points less likely than young men to feel positively about capitalism, and far more pessimistic about ever out-earning their parents.
The most devastating part is that educated, privileged women are experiencing the deepest crisis. These aren’t struggling women—they’re lawyers, consultants, strategists. Yet they’re the ones most convinced society has abandoned them. They can’t afford homes. They don’t want children because motherhood means erasing themselves. They feel trapped choosing between subjugation to a man or subjugation to the system. The internet has radicalised them into believing revolution matters more than their own lives.
One woman admitted: “I kind of put my personal life and personal goals and personal advancement on the side, because I’m involved with these things.” She sacrificed her future for activism that won’t change anything.
Young women are angry about existence itself. They’ve weaponized their pessimism into a moral identity. One activist said: “I think to be a person that cares about other people, you’ve got to be pessimistic.” This isn’t courage. This is learned helplessness rebranded as enlightenment. They’re isolated, they dislike men, they don’t believe in the future, and they’re spreading that despair to every young woman they meet.
Source: New Statesman, Merlin Strategy