CPA News Releases, Advisories, and Editorials

Denver, CO – In the most in-depth and thorough analysis of all women and women voters in the 2000 election season, Colorado Women’s Agenda, the Center for Policy Alternatives and Lifetime Television today released results from a statewide poll that describes a complex picture of Colorado and American women’s priorities and values, where feelings of economic optimism are tempered by unmet expectations of the possibilities of a good economy. Colorado Women’s Voices 2000 finds 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 joint national-state research project, which began with a series of racially and economically diverse focus groups to listen to the voices of women, a national poll released in September and the Colorado poll released today, was conducted by the bi-partisan and multi-cultural team of Celinda Lake, Linda DiVall, Linda Williams, and Ana Rivera. The Colorado poll consisted of a sample of 400 women of all races and ages and 200 men, with an over-sampling of Latinas. 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. Colorado Women’s Agenda conducted a statewide Colorado Women’s Voices in 1996.

Colorado Women’s Voices 2000 finds that despite Colorado’s strong economy, women remain very concerned, not only about their economic futures, but also about the quality of their and their family’s lives and the growing economic divide in the state. Housing and health care costs place the biggest strain on women’s and men’s personal finances, and half of all women worry about continuing to make ends meet while having enough time to do everything they need to do and still spend time with their families. Half of both Colorado women and men say it has gotten harder to juggle family and work over the past four years, in contrast to a plurality of adults nationwide who say it has become easier.

Women feel very strongly about being rewarded equally for an equal day’s work, but a call for shorter or more flexible hours tops their list for what would most help to improve their family lives. In fact, the dilemma of balancing financial and family demands is most evident in looking at two of the 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 job-independent health care, portable retirement, equal pay and benefits topping the list. An overwhelming majority cite as priorities equal pay and benefits (82%), investing public dollars in public schools (79%), available and affordable health care not dependent on their job (78%), and portable retirement benefits that go from job to job (78%).

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 work and family and equal pay and benefits as the most dominant economic concerns in their lives.
• Education consistently ranks as a top issue for women.
• 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.
• 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.

“Colorado women will have the opportunity to vote on their priorities on the 2000 ballot,” said Karen Amidon, Executive Director for Colorado Women’s Agenda. “Increased funding for education, stronger gun safety laws, and in Denver, new funding for quality child care, before and after-school programs, children’s health care, affordable housing and transportation, are all key components of a women-led agenda for Colorado’s future.”

“‘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.”

From its analysis of the Colorado Women’s Voices 2000 polling data, Colorado Women’s Agenda releases a list of key points to understand about women’s priorities.

1. Despite a good economy, women’s concerns are largely rooted in their pocketbooks. 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, 55% say that the current economic boom has reached them and 44% say that it has not; while among non-college educated women, only 42% of women say that the boom has reached them, and 56% say that it has not. Only 36% of unmarried women feel that current economic prosperity has reached their doorstep, compared with 53% of married women.
2. Colorado’s increasingly mobile, technology-oriented economy is shaping a diffuse policy agenda that focuses on education, moral decline, economy and jobs, and retirement and Social Security. 79% of women and 71% of men support investing more public dollars in public schools, including 50% of women who say this is one of the most important priorities. Women under 30 are even more likely (85%) to call for increased funding education as priority.
3. Housing and the costs of health insurance are the items that place the biggest strain on women’s personal finances, with senior women also pointing to the cost of prescription drugs. Latinas are slightly more likely to say the cost of housing poses a strain, while white women are more likely to point to the cost of health insurance. Women on the Western Slope add transportation and child care to their list of top expenses.
4. Equal pay and benefits and juggling family and work are critical concerns for all groups of women. 85% of white women, 83% of Latinas and 74% of all men say that equal pay and benefits for women are a top priority. Both women and men say that shorter or more flexible hours and a job that pays more would most help to improve their family lives. Women are more than twice as likely than men to say they need more help with housework.
5. Health care costs present a big worry for Colorado women which is being met with a desire for self-management. The preferred solution is health insurance independent from employment. 77% of women and 70% of men say that job independent, affordable health care is very important to them personally.
6. Retirement is a big worry with the preferred solution being portable pensions that can be taken from one job to another. Women rank retirement among their top 3 concerns with education and health care. 80% of non-college educated women and 74% of college educated women support retirement benefits that move from job to job.
7. In the wake of the Columbine killings, Colorado women and men are significantly more concerned about keeping their children safe and declining morality than adults nationally. Colorado women have grown significantly more concerned about keeping their children safe from gangs and drugs since 1996, with 74% now saying they are worried about this issue, compared with 55% four years ago. More than half of women (54%) say they worry intensely about their children’s safety. 53% of women say stronger gun safety laws are personally very important to them, compared with 43% of men.
8. More than half of women (59%) and men (58%) think it is likely that they will be responsible for caring for an elderly parent or other elderly person. Younger women are more than twice as likely as their older counterparts to foresee caregiving roles (80% likely among women under 45, 37% among women over 45). Colorado adults are more likely to see this in their future than women (48%) and men (45%) nationwide.
9. The time crunch is making it harder for women as they juggle the demands of family and work and try to spend time with their children to instill moral values. Half of both Colorado women (52%) and men (49%) say it has gotten harder to balance the demands of family and work than it was four years ago. Colorado adults are more pessimistic about the time crunch that women (39%) and men (35%) nationally.

Colorado Women’s Voices 2000 is made possible by the generous support of Chambers Family Fund, Rose Community Foundation, the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau, KTVD UPN Channel 20 and generous individual contributors to Colorado Women’s Agenda.

Colorado Women’s Agenda is a statewide network that champions economic security, social justice and political power for all Colorado women through education, advocacy, communications and activism. As a leading voice for women across the state, we seek to advance public discussion about issues affecting women and families, to promote effective communications and collaborations among women’s groups, and to galvanize diverse, grassroots women to participate in the democratic process. For more information, visit the Agenda’s website at www.womensagenda.org.

The Center for Policy Alternatives is America’s leading nonprofit, non-partisan public policy and leadership development center devoted to community-based solutions that strengthen families and communities. CPA links elected leaders across the fifty states with private and nonprofit leaders in the search for common ground, new ideas and resources to create solutions that work. Integral to our work is a women-led economic agenda, developed through our women’s voices polling projects and focus groups, convening and research. For more information, visit CPA’s website at www.stateaction.org.

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. On the web, Lifetime Online (www.lifetimetv.com) features informational resources and interactive entertainment. Contact: Toby Graff, (212) 424-7298.

Link to the full Colorado Women’s Voices 2000 report on the Colorado Women’s Agenda homepage.

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