Poets, politicians and people in pubs have long pondered two questions. Why can’t men and women get along better? And what’s up with young people these days? One of our recent articles touched on both. Why, we asked, is a gulf opening between the worldviews of young men and women in developed countries?

Our data team analysed trends in 20 countries. Meanwhile, our correspondents in America and China interviewed lots of young men and women, and I flew to Poland with a colleague to do the same. We heard a persistent complaint. Young, university-educated (heterosexual) women lamented that there aren’t enough well-educated, liberal men to form romantic bonds with. Many young, blue-collar men groused that feminism has gone too far and is crimping opportunities for males.

The Economist is a feminist newspaper: we believe in treating men and women equally wherever practical. Every year we update our glass-ceiling index, measuring barriers to women’s progress in rich countries. At the same time, we try to be fair to men. We don’t have a simple answer to the complex issues raised by our reporting, but our leader argues that there are ways to help boys do better in school without harming girls, and the world should try them.