Nearly all of the 17,550 people surveyed agreed that men and women should have equal rights, but three in four respondents said women still experienced social, political and financial inequality.
"It's encouraging that the vast majority of both men and women around the world believe in equal opportunity ... but at the same time most still believe that true equality of rights is not here yet," said Kully Kaur-Ballagan, director at Ipsos MORI that carried out the poll.
Across 24 countries, including Brazil, Canada, Russia, Britain, India and Sweden, more than half of those interviewed by Ipsos MORI called themselves a "feminist", but a quarter said they were "scared" to speak up for women's rights.
Around half of those polled in China, Russia and India said men were superior to women and better at earning money and at attaining education, according to the survey, which was released to tie in with International Women's Day on Wednesday.
UN Women has described the global gender pay gap of 24 per cent as "the biggest robber" of women.
The World Economic Forum said in its 2016 gender gap index that men and women will not reach economic equality for another 170 years.
