In 1947, more than one in three women (37 per cent) said they would rather be a man. Today, it’s down to nine per cent.
A new study has compared public attitudes and behaviours in the 1930s and 1940s with those in 2024 to find out how society has changed over the course of almost a century.
Researchers said the result was a sign of the substantial progress made in women's rights and gender equality within the UK.
Meanwhile, men's perspectives on the matter have remained relatively static.
Around one in 20 (5 per cent) said they would rather be a woman today, almost the same figure as in the 1940s (4 per cent), the study said.
The research by the Policy Institute at King’s College London also highlights shifts in how much men contribute to housework, the importance of children doing homework, and the desire for higher wages over job security.
Professor Bobby Duffy, director of The Policy Institute, said the “long-term trends tell us so much about elements of life we take for granted today but are actually pretty new in our history.”
A quarter of men in 1947 said they did no housework, with only four per cent of men admitting to this today.
However, women still do the bulk of the chores – according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), women spend around three and a half hours a day doing unpaid work activities such as housework and volunteering, almost an hour more than the average man.
The study also found that while people used to value job security over high wages, the opinion today is much more closely divided.
Some 73 per cent of people in 1946 said job security was more important, but that figure is only 41 per cent today, with 46 per cent of Brits prioritising the highest possible wages.
Regarding education, only 21 per cent of people in 1937 thought children should have homework – that figure is now 68 per cent.
While Britain used to be split on whether boys and girls should be taught separately (43 per cent) or together (45 per cent), people are now hugely in favour of them being taught together, with this figure at 76 per cent, the study found.
Professor Duffy added: “Many other small but important behaviours have also increased hugely – from keeping fit and the ability to swim, to men’s contribution to work in the home.
“But some have remained remarkably constant, not least that four in 10 of us just struggle to get out of bed in the morning – a very human feeling that may always be with us.”
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