As Maryam(female, 25, Berlin, all-female group) explains: “I also have a migration background and therefore, well, it starts with the name and when people find out at some point, I’m also from Lebanon, for example, or I’m not purely German in general. I’ll say that I also tend to look more critically, probably a little less than you did because of the headscarf but it’s always there, regardless of whether it’s choosing a career, school, university, if you don’t have the right people in front of you, then you have to fight through it.” A more targeted exploration of intersectional factors could provide a richer understanding of structural barriers and variations in experiences of gendered inequality. Overall, this study underscores the importance of considering context, group composition, spatial positioning and social norms when interpreting young people’s attitudes toward gender equality and feminism. It provides valuable comparative insights while acknowledging the methodological constraints that shape the contours of observable discussion and debate. 3.5.5 Summary 3.5.5.1 Crisis as a generational condition Across all five countries, the focus groups show that young people’s attitudes toward gender equality and feminism are embedded in a broader experience of crisis and societal instability. Economic insecurity, political polarisation, geopolitical tensions, housing shortages and climate anxiety form the backdrop against which questions of justice, representation and gender roles are interpreted. Particularly in Greece, participants described a pronounced sense of structural blockage and limited prospects, often expressing little hope that national conditions would substantially improve. At the same time, a consistent pattern emerges across countries and genders, while pessimism about the future of the country is widespread, many participants remain comparatively optimistic about their personal futures. They express confidence in their education, adaptability and individual resilience, despite distrusting institutions and doubting collective trajectories. This asymmetry between collective pessimism and personal optimism is politically significant. It creates space for narratives emphasising national decline and loss of control without undermining belief in individual advancement. Crisis thus functions both as lived experience and as an interpretive framework shaping political perceptions. Crisis perceptions are also gendered in their articulation. Young men tend to frame crises in macro-political, economic and abstract terms, referring to labour markets, geopolitical instability or institutional dysfunction. Young women, while equally aware of structural challenges, more frequently translate crisis into embodied and relational concerns, including safety in public spaces, reproductive autonomy, mental health pressures and vulnerability to harassment. Their accounts emphasise the direct social and personal consequences of instability, often extending beyond questions of professional advancement. It is precisely at this point, where crisis is translated into everyday lived vulnerability, that the discussion also becomes personal for men. When debates move from abstract systemic concerns to issues such as social expectations, relationships, status pressures or shifting gender norms, male participants likewise articulate experiences of uncertainty and pressure. The embodied dimension of crisis thus opens a space in which both women and men connect structural instability to their own biographies, albeit in different ways. 3.5.5.2 Political frustration and gendered leadership perceptions A second cross-cutting finding is widespread political frustration. Across ideological backgrounds, participants criticise political elites for ineffectiveness, polarisation and symbolic conflict. Trust in institutions is limited, and political EqualiZe 75