Gen Z Women Leaving the Left, Adopting Lifestyle Conservatism

Disillusioned by the left’s empty promises, Gen Z women are abandoning social and political institutions and pursuing aesthetically conservative lifestyles. But can conservative institutions meet them where they are?

Gen Z women are often branded as hyper-liberal and cut off from tradition. But the data tells a more complicated story.

In 2024, 40% of women aged 18-24 were religiously unaffiliated, a sharp rise from 29% in 2013. Just 36% of Gen Z women say they have some or a great deal of trust in organized religion. Broader institutional trust is also low. Just 41% of Gen Z adults express trust in the federal government, 37% express trust in news organizations, and 53% express trust in the police.

Young women aren’t just skeptical of institutions – they are also increasingly dissatisfied with the lifestyles promoted by the progressive party. A 2009 study on female happiness since 1970 found that despite social and economic gains, women’s self-reported happiness had fallen both in absolute terms and relative to men. A more recent report from 2019 found women who adhere to socially conservative norms report higher levels of satisfaction and sense of meaning in their lives.

Though Gen Z women still lean left politically, with 53% identifying as Democrats, their declining happiness points to a growing gap between progressive promises and lived experience, one that may be pushing them toward more conservative values in practice, if not in name. Nowhere is this push clearer than in the explosion of the conservative aesthetic online and the popularity of right-leaning media influencers.

Even as trust in institutions is collapsing, trends for homemaking and modesty are spiking, and influencers without gender studies degrees – such as Alex Clark, Brett Cooper, Allie Beth Stuckey, and Candace Owens – are gaining millions of female followers by providing what progressive institutions can’t: a vision of life grounded in truth, beauty, and community.

Data analysts and outlets alike report a surging interest in “tradwife” content and search terms like “modest fashion” and “stay-at-home wife.” Ideas that once would have been dismissed as regressive are now resonating with millions of women who feel the feminist script didn’t deliver on its promises. The Young Women’s Leadership Conference, hosted by Turning Point USA, celebrates its 10th year, uniting 3000 women from around the country.

Platforms like Evie Magazine and The Conservateur lack major media backing, yet they too are gaining cultural influence – with over 221K and 127K Instagram followers respectively, in addition to a growing readership of their published content. Their appeal isn’t political – it’s existential. For many Gen Z women, lifestyle conservatism is more than a brand. It’s survival.

The question is: Will conservative institutions give them what they need?

The right can’t afford to mistake this movement for a trend. What Gen Z women are embracing isn’t just a Pinterest mood board or a vintage filter of discontent. It’s a reorientation toward things that last. And while conservative media has celebrated the aesthetic, many institutions have yet to offer real infrastructure to support the lifestyle behind it.

If a young woman decides to step off the career treadmill and prioritize marriage, motherhood, or homeschooling, where does she go for guidance, support and community? If she’s leaving behind the left’s vision of freedom-as-isolation, who is prepared to meet her with a vision of freedom-as-rootedness?

Too often, the answer is “no one.” Political campaigns promise to defend the family, but do little to support women who are choosing to build one. Churches have become weak, losing the strong community they are called to foster, leaving countercultural women to navigate life alone. Conservative nonprofits fund student activism but overlook the massive influence of women’s lifestyle content.

There is a vacuum of formation, and it’s being filled – just not by most formal institutions. That’s not a criticism. It’s a call.

Conservative institutions – churches, media, think tanks – must do more than applaud this shift. They must steward it. That means discipling young women with depth, not just aesthetics; offering community, not commentary; investing in policies and structures that make family, faith, and freedom viable.

It’s time to stop reacting and start rebuilding – because the hunger is already there.

Gen Z women were promised empowerment, but ended up exhausted. They were told to chase freedom and found themselves lost. Now, many are quietly rejecting the noise and walking toward meaning. Will conservative institutions walk with them, or miss the moment entirely?

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.