A surprising number of people in younger generations believe that women’s rights have gone too far, with a new survey revealing gender equality progress could be at risk of stalling.

New research conducted by Ipsos UK and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London found that over half of people in younger generations believe the push for equality is now negatively impacting men and that they are being expected to do “too much” to support progress.

The survey collated the responses from more than 22,500 people aged 16-74 across 32 countries, including approximately 1000 people from Australia.

According to the results, 52 per cent of Gen Z and 53 per cent of Millennials agree that “we have gone so far in promoting women’s equality that we are discriminating against men”.

This is compared to 46 per cent of Gen X and 40 per cent of Baby Boomers.

In fact, many of the questions showed that younger generations were less supportive of efforts to advance gender equality than Boomers.

When it came to the claim that things have “gone far enough” in giving women equal rights with men, 55 per cent of Gen Z and 57 per cent of Millennials agreed.

This is compared to 53 per cent of Gen X and 47 per cent Boomers.

The majority of Gen Z, Millennial and Gen X respondents also agreed that men are “expected to do too much to support equality”, with 55, 57 and 54 per cent respectively.

However, less than half of Boomers agreed with this statement.

In another surprise result,Gen Z and Millennials were the generations that most believed a father who stays home to look after his children is “less of a man”, with 30 per cent of both groups agreeing with this statement.

This went down to 22 per cent for Gen X and reduced even further to 14 per cent for Boomers.

While some of the responses from younger generations may be concerning, there are other aspects of gender equality that they are more open to than other generations.

For example, 45 per cent of Gen Z and 44 per cent of Millennials define themselves as a feminist, compared to 37 per cent of Gen X and 35 per cent of Baby Boomers.

Chief executive of Ipsos, UK and Ireland, Kelly Beaver MBE, said the research shows that significant gender equality progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go.

“There are signs that the public are starting to push back on this progress to date, which is potentially worrying, but it may also be a sign that real change is happening in society and change can often make people uncomfortable and resistant,” she said.

Ms Beaver hopes that over the coming years this discomfort will shift to acceptance of achieving gender equality, which is essential for progress.