CPA News Releases, Advisories, and Editorials

HEALTH CARE, SOCIAL SECURITY, TOP GEORGIA WOMEN’S CONCERNS

“The presidential candidates know they have a lot at stake in winning the ‘gender gap’. In truth, Georgia women have even more at stake,” said Stephanie Davis, executive director of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation.

Georgia Women’s Voices 2000, a new poll by the Center for Policy Alternatives and Lifetime Television was released today at the Atlanta Women’s Foundation fall luncheon. The Foundation served as a community partner and BellSouth was the corporate partner.

The poll, based on comprehensive statewide and national research, reveals that Georgia women have different priorities from Georgia men. Affordable health care not tied to your job is the Number One priority for Georgia women, ahead of Georgia men’s Number One priority: taxes. Twice as many women as men see health care as their biggest personal worry.

Both men and women in Georgia are worried about the future of Social Security. Whether there will be enough Social Security for their retirement is one of the three biggest worries for both women and men. And both men and women in Georgia overwhelmingly reject the idea of privatizing Social Security by allowing people to invest in stocks instead of paying into Social Security. Out of 19 major policy proposals on various subjects, this idea came in dead last among both men and women.

“There’s one point women and men don’t seem to agree on,” said Davis. “Georgia women overwhelmingly believe that America would be governed better if there were more women in political office!”

The decline in moral values is a major worry for both women and men in Georgia, but women are more concerned than men about education and about crime and violence.

They are less concerned than men about taxes, economic issues and government spending.

Even as the United States has moved from a bad economy to a good economy, a majority of Georgia women, both white and African American, feel that the economic boom hasn’t reached them or their families. About half of Georgia women are worried about making ends meet and being able to afford everyday things.

While the money crunch remains tough, the time crunch is growing worse. More than half of Georgia women and men are worried about finding time for their families. (Women think that this time crunch has been getting worse.) And, on top of other responsibilities, nearly half of Georgian women expect that they are going to have to provide care to aging relatives.

Men and women see different solutions for improving their family lives. Women see shorter or more flexible work hours as the best idea, and want more help with housework. Men want the ability to start a business and fewer outside activities. Both men and women want higher pay.

Overwhelmingly, women think more should be done to expand good, affordable child care, and not leave this to families to solve. Only a narrow plurality of men agree with them.

Across America, “‘control’ and ‘flexibility’ are women’s watchwords for dealing with economic change regardless of their income, marital status, race, party or generation,” according to 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.”

The national poll, Women’s Voices 2000, has tracked women’s views every four years since 1992. This year Georgia was one of only three states, including Connecticut and Colorado, to do statewide polls. Top-notch researchers Democrat Celinda Lake and Republican Linda DiVall, aided by race and gender expert Linda Williams and focus group expert Ana Rivera, conducted the poll.

“Women’s Voices 2000, echoes many of the same concerns 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,” according to Meredith Wagner, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at Lifetime Television.

The Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and the Atlanta Women’s Foundation are available for comment. A full copy of the report can be seen on CPA’s website at www.stateaction.org.

1. Women and men in Georgia do not believe that their families have shared in the current economic prosperity. They are asking, “Is this as good as it gets?” and class differences based on education are growing.

   In Georgia, 58% of women and 54% of men do not think that the current economic boom has reached them or their families. This is true across lines of race, with 59% of white women and 56% of African American women saying that the boom has not reached them and their families. College educated men are the most likely to say that they have benefited, with 62% saying the boom has reached them.

2. Elected leaders are not getting a complete picture of the economic conditions in our state, partly because those who have been left out of the economic prosperity are the least likely to vote.

   71% of women who are unlikely to vote say that the economic boom has not reached their families compared to 54% of likely women voters who say the boom has not reached them.

3. Women in Georgia are concerned both about economic security and about the well-being of our children and communities. African American women are most concerned about the safety and well-being of their children and communities.

   19% of women overall said their top concern was education, followed by moral decline, which was the top concern for 13% of women. While both white and African American women listed it above any other issue, African American women were most concerned in general about education with 25% saying it was their top concern, compared to 17% of white women.

   When asked about their personal worries, African American women were most concerned about the decline in moral values (84%), followed by keeping children safe (74%), while for white women, the decline in moral values (78%) was followed by a worry that social security would be enough for retirement (76%). Overall, adults in Georgia are more worried about keeping children safe than adults nationwide.

4. Women and men place equal pay and benefits at the top of their policy agenda for improving people’s lives. Women overwhelmingly support:
   • Equal pay and benefits (87%)
   • Lower taxes (82%)
   • Job independent, affordable health care (81%)
   • Retirement benefits that go from job to job (80%)

   Men’s agenda starts with equal pay (84%) followed by retirement benefits that go from job to job (83%), lower taxes (77%) and job independent, affordable health care (75%).

5. Women want shorter more flexible hours and a job that pays more.

   When asked what would do the most to improve family life, Georgia women and men identified strategies that address economic security, the time crunch and the safety and values of family and community all at once: they want shorter more flexible hours (19% of women and13% of men) and a job that pays more (18% of women and 17% of men.) Women are more than twice as likely as men to want more help with housework, while men are more likely to say that starting their own business would help family life.

6. A majority of women (58%) across race believe that if there were more women in political office, the nation would be better governed.

   58% of African American women and 56% of white women in Georgia think that if there were more women in political office, the nation would governed better. Women under 45 are especially likely (69%) to think that having more women in office will make a difference.

7. Women and men in Georgia would like to see more done to help people start and grow their own businesses. Many women and men favor banks and financial institutions making it easier to qualify for loans while others support the government providing more low-interest loans and community colleges providing more training.

   35% of women and 41% of men would like banks and financial institutions to make it easier to qualify for loans and credit, more so than women (35%) and men (33%) would nationally. African American women are twice as likely as white women to want the government to do more by increasing access to government contracts for women and minorities.

8. Half of women and men in Georgia think it has gotten harder to juggle work and family and they are much more pessimistic about the time crunch than adults nationwide.

   55% of women and 50% of men in Georgia say it has gotten harder over the past 4 years to juggle work and family demands in Georgia, compared to 39% of women and 35% of men nationally. African American women (62%) are more likely than white women (53%) to say it is harder to juggle these demands.

9. Close to half of women (49%) and men (43%) think it is likely that they will be responsible for caring for an elderly parent or other elderly person.

   This is also true for women who also have children (50%), presenting a double bind for many families.

10. Health care costs and retirement present big worries for Georgia women that are being met with a desire for portable and flexible benefits.

    The preferred solutions are health insurance independent from employment and retirement benefits that move from job to job. 82% of women and 75% of men say that job independent, affordable health care is very important to them personally. 80% of women and 83% of men want retirement benefits that move from job to job.

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.

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. 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.

LIFETIME is the #1 television network for women, ranking #2 in overall ratings among all basic cable networks. It 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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The full Georgia Women’s Voices report is available here on the CPA website, as a 31-page, 866 K Microsoft Word document. Click here for the full report.