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For Immediate Release
September 27, 2000
For Further Information
Center for Policy Alternatives
Bernie Horn
(202) 956-5135

CENTER FOR POLICY ALTERNATIVES AND LIFETIME TELEVISION’S NATIONAL POLL, WOMEN’S VOICES 2000, PAINTS NEW, IN-DEPTH AND COMPLEX PICTURE OF WOMEN VOTERS TODAY

Women See Opportunity Rather than Instability in a Time of Economic Change, Women Want More Control Over Their Economic Lives

Many Women Say Economic Boom Has Not Reached Them, New Class Differences Emerging

– Highlights 10 Key Points to Understand about Women in the 2000 Elections –

In the most in-depth and thorough analysis of all women and women voters in the 2000 presidential election season, the Center for Policy Alternatives and Lifetime Television today released results from a national poll that describe a complex picture of American women’s priorities and values, where feelings of economic optimism are tempered by unmet expectations of the possibilities of a good economy. Women. s Voices 2000 found that many women do not feel that the economic boom has reached them. Class differences, now particularly driven by education and marital status, are emerging as a key determinant of a woman’s economic outlook.

This national research project, which began with a series of racially and economically diverse focus groups to listen to the voices of women and the national poll released today, was conducted by the bi-partisan and multi-cultural team of Celinda Lake, Linda DiVall, Linda Williams, and Anna Rivera. The poll consisted of a sample of 800 women of all races and ages and 400 men; with over-sampling of Latinas, African-American and Asian-American women. Women’s Voices was first conducted in 1992 and is the only comprehensive initiative of women’s views that has been done in subsequent presidential elections, this being the third.

Women’s Voices 2000 finds that a majority of women see increasing opportunity in the economy today, coming full circle from 1996 when they believed the changing economy presented increasing instability. However, even in these boom times, women show ambivalence about the gains and still do not feel in control of their economic lives. While two-thirds of women say they have control over their lives in general, only 40% of women feel control of their economic lives.

Women remain very concerned, not only about their economic futures, but also about the quality of their and their family’s lives. For example, nearly 60 percent of all women worry about continuing to make ends meet as well as having enough time to do everything they need to do and still spend time with their families. Women and men both feel that parents spending more time with their children would be the best way to strengthen values in our country. Women feel very strongly about being rewarded equally for an equal day’s work, but 71% also said they would prefer a job with more flexibility and benefits to a job with higher wages. In fact, the dilemma of balancing financial and family demands is most evident in looking at the two issues that women, regardless of race, say concern them most today: retirement security and the decline in moral values.

Thus, the poll found that women support a wide ranging and aggressive policy agenda with more job-independent health care, portable retirement, equal pay and benefits topping the list. An overwhelming majority cite as priorities equal pay and benefits (88%), available and affordable health care not dependent on their job (83%) and portable retirement benefits that go from job to job (83%).

Women’s Voices has been tracking women’s views in every presidential election since 1992 and has found that over the past decade:

  • Women have urgently and consistently placed juggling time and family and equal pay and benefits as the most dominant economic concerns in their lives.
  • There has been a shift in women’s support for the role government can play in partnering with them to find solutions for their concerns, with nearly 60% of women saying government can and should help.
  • Concern about moral values continues to top the list and women and men continue to believe by large margins that parents having more time with their children is the preferred solution.
  • Education consistently ranks as a top issue for women.

“Control” and “flexibility” are women’s watchwords for dealing with economic change regardless of their income, marital status, race, party or generation,” said Linda Tarr-Whelan, President of the Center for Policy Alternatives. “Equal pay with benefits and flexibility to juggle family and work have been remarkably constant as women’s top concerns over the last three election cycles even though the country has moved from a bad economy to a good economy.”

“Women. s Voices 2000 shows women’s lives are increasingly complex and can no longer be sorted out and confined to neat and narrow boxes,” said Meredith Wagner, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at Lifetime Television. “The poll echoes many of the same concerns that we hear from our viewers, especially the difficulty they continue to have in balancing work and family. The challenge for politicians will be how to speak to women’s common values and recommended solutions while recognizing their very different circumstances.”

From its analysis of the Women. s Voices 2000 polling data, CPA and Lifetime release a list of key points to understand about women’s priorities.

 

10 Key Points to Understand about Women in the 2000 Elections

  1. Four years ago, women thought the economy was marked by instability; now, all groups of women see opportunity. In 2000, 53% of women see increasing opportunity and 26% see increasing instability. In 1996, 57% of women said they see increasing instability and 29% see increasing opportunity.
  2. Women are asking, “Is this as good as it gets?” and class distinctions by educational and marital status are more evident. Among college educated women, 56% say that the economic boom has reached them and 40% say that it has not; while among non-college educated women, only 34% of women say that the boom has reached them, and 62% say that it has not.
  3. Equal pay and benefits and juggling family and work are critical concerns for all groups of women. 87% of white women, 93% of African American women, 91% of Latinas and 90% of Asian American women said that equal pay and benefits for women are a top priority.
  4. Working women are focusing on benefits, not just wages. 71% of all women surveyed said that they would choose a job with more flexibility and benefits over a job that offers more pay.
  5. Retirement is a big worry with the preferred solution being portable pensions that can be taken from one job to another. Women rank retirement second only after education on their list of concerns. 85% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans support retirement benefits that move from job to job.
  6. Health care costs, another top concern, is also being met with a desire for self-management. The preferred solution is health insurance independent from employment. 72% of women and 65% of men say that job independent, affordable health care is very important to them personally.
  7. Women and men believe government can play a helping role and look to government more in 2000 than four years ago. Adults look to government to help tackle tough problems such as childcare and caring for elderly relatives with a plurality of both women and men siding with a government solution to child care.
  8. Close to half of women (48%) and men (45%) think it is likely that they will be responsible for caring for an elderly parent or other elderly person. This is especially acute for women who also have children (63%), presenting a double bind for many families.
  9. Entrepreneurship continues to be an attractive option as women seek more control and flexibility. Women’s entrepreneurial spirit remains strong and unchanged since 1996. 40% of women already own or would like to own their own businesses. Interest is strongest among African-American women (39%) and Latinas (42%).
  10. The time crunch is consistent over time for women as they juggle the demands of family and work and try to spend time with their children to instill moral values. 59% of mothers with children under 6 say that it is harder to balance the demands of family and work – and 30% say that it is much harder – than it was four years ago. Both men and women believe spending more time with children is by far the top solution to strengthening the values in our country.

 

The Center for Policy Alternatives has partnered with state organizations to conduct statewide Women’s Voices polls in Colorado, Connecticut and Georgia in addition to the national poll. The state findings will be released in October. For additional information, contact Karen Amidon from Colorado Women’s Agenda at (303) 863-7336, Barbara Potopowitz from Connecticut Permanent Commission on the Status of Women at (860) 240-8300, or Stephanie Davis from Atlanta Women’s Foundation at (404) 577-5000.

Women’s Voices 2000 is made possible by the generous support of Lifetime Television, Ford Foundation, Nokomis Foundation, BellSouth Corporation, Hunt Alternatives Fund, the Brico Fund, Merle Chambers Family Fund, Ms. Foundation for Women, the Colorado Women’s Agenda, the Atlanta Women’s Foundation, and the Connecticut Permanent Commission on the Status of Women.

About CPA:

The Center for Policy Alternatives is the nation’s leading nonpartisan public policy and leadership development center devoted to community-based solutions that strengthen families and communities. Women’s Voices 2000 is the third national poll since 1992 that highlighted CPA engages elected, nonprofit, and private sector leaders across the 50 states to envision and realize progressive solutions for America’s future. For more information, visit CPA’s website at www.stateaction.org.

About Lifetime:

LIFETIME is the #1 television network for women and ranks #2 in overall ratings among all basic cable networks. LIFETIME is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families. Launched in 1984, LIFETIME now serves nearly 78 million households nationwide, available on more than 11,000 cable systems and alternative delivery systems. LIFETIME launched a 24-hour sister service, The Lifetime Movie Network, in 1998. On the web, Lifetime Online (www.lifetimetv.com) features informational resources and interactive entertainment. All three services, LIFETIME Television, Lifetime Movie Network and Lifetime Online, are part of LIFETIME Entertainment Services, a 50-50 joint venture of The Hearst Corporation and The Walt Disney Company.

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Click here to view the full report (921K PDF file).

Click here for slides showing the results of the national poll.

Click here for the executive summary of Women’s Voices 2000 focus groups taken earlier this year.

A five minute interview with Linda DiVall and Celinda Lake ran on September 28th on NPR’s All Things Considered.
The direct audio link to the interview (if you have RealPlayer) is http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/atc/20000928.atc.16.rmm

Video of September 27th press conference is on the C-SPAN website
The direct link to the video (if you have RealPlayer) is http://video.c-span.org:8080/
ramgen/edrive/e092700_pollwomen.rm.

The poll was mentioned in a September 20th Chicago Tribune article.