CV NEWS FEED // According to recent polling, Gen Z women are the first generation to outnumber men in abandoning organized religion in the US.
According to an April 4 article published by American Storylines, a new study has found that “the gender divide in religiosity has flipped,” after decades of polling which consistently showed men as more likely to drop faith related habits.
While men constituted 57% of those among the Baby Boom generation who left their faiths, and women only 43%, the trend has since flipped. Now, 54% of Gen Z adults who left their faiths are women, while 46% are men.
“Even as rates of religious disaffiliation have risen, conservative churches have been able to hold on to their members,” the article stated: “but they are facing more of an uphill battle keeping this current generation of young women in the pews.”
Gen Z women in the study surpassed previous generations, with 61% identifying themselves as feminists, and expressing concern about “unfair treatment of women in American society,” and suspicion for “institutions that uphold traditional social arrangements.”
In the poll conducted by American Storylines, almost 65% of young women said they believed churches do not treat men and women equally.
The article continued:
Young women are more educated than the men their age and report greater professional ambition and concern with personal success and growth. Religion and family life are more distant or lower priorities. A recent Pew poll found that it was young men more than women who most aspire to become parents.
In fact, as the article points out, 54% of young women stated they believed abortion should be available without restriction in recent polling.
Beyond gender roles and abortion, the article also notes a correlating rise in LGBTQ identity among women, with approximately 3 in 10 women under 30 identifying as something other than straight, with 60% of young people citing “negative treatment of gay and lesbian people” as a significant reason for abandoning their religions.
“None of this is good news for America’s places of worship,” the article concluded: “The decline in religious participation and membership has provoked a good deal of concern and consternation, but these latest trends represent a four-alarm warning.”
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