Nearly a quarter of women aged 18 to 24 voted Green in last July's general election, roughly double the proportion of young men who backed Reform UK, according to polling data. While much attention has focused on the rise of Reform among young men, the quieter shift of young women toward the Greens represents a significant and underexplored political trend.
These voters are typically middle-class students or graduates in their early twenties, motivated by concerns over global injustice, such as the situation in Gaza and refugees crossing the Channel. They also express frustration with domestic issues like misogyny among peers, unaffordable housing, and the climate crisis. Many feel that Labour, the party they might have supported in the past, takes them for granted while courting Reform voters.
Academics point to deeper structural factors. Professor Rosie Campbell of King's College London notes that as more women enter university—now 57% of British students are female—they tend to become more liberal. She also highlights Brexit as a catalyst: women were disproportionately opposed to austerity and in favour of remaining in the EU, and the main parties’ embrace of Brexit pushed them further left. This aligns with an earlier trend of young women backing Jeremy Corbyn’s “kinder politics” before moving to the Greens.
The Greens have thus captured a cohort of highly educated, anxious young women who feel alienated from mainstream politics. While their numbers may not yet swing elections, their shift mirrors a broader polarisation between young men and women, driven more by women becoming sharply more liberal than by men becoming radically more right-wing.
