Religion’s Longstanding Gender Gap Is Narrowing Among Gen Z

The rise of the “manosphere”—a term that refers to online content directed at boys and men and has generated controversy for spreading misogynistic views and hostile attitudes towards women—could also be a factor, says Melissa Deckman, the chief executive officer of PRRI.

Religious leaders, though, say that they haven’t seen in their own congregations that young people are more affiliated with one political party than another. They instead suggest that young men are turning toward religion as part of a broader “religious revival” in the age group—though political scientists say that this claim isn’t reflected in data collected in recent years.

Many political scientists attribute the narrowing of the gender gap in religiosity to more young women turning away from religion rather than more young men turning toward it. 

“Are young men becoming more religious, I think, is a very contested question from a data perspective,” says Burge, of Washington University in St. Louis. “There’s just too much noise in the data to have a really clear signal. There’s much more of a signal on the women’s side—like almost all those metrics are pointing to a decline in religiosity among women.”