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Women See Room for Improvement in Job Equity

Women See Room for Improvement in Job Equity

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- The National Organization for Women meets in Philadelphia this weekend for its annual national conference, with organizers feeling under pressure to combat what they call the "anti-feminist Bush administration." The latest Gallup poll, conducted June 11-17, suggests that most women do not share this negative reaction to the new president: only 34% of women disapprove of the job George W. Bush is doing, similar to the 31% of men who disapprove. However, the survey -- which focuses on minority and gender rights -- does find that, among American women, there are pockets of dissatisfaction with the way society treats them, particularly in the area of employment. A substantial gender gap exists on this issue, with men far less likely than women to perceive job discrimination based on gender.

Overall, a majority of women say they are at least somewhat satisfied with the way society treats women: 13% are very satisfied and 48% are somewhat satisfied. However, more than one in three women, 37%, say they are dissatisfied with society's treatment of women, including 15% who are very dissatisfied.

Women are also generally satisfied with several specific aspects of their lives, including family life, education, physical health, their job, and the opportunities they feel they've had to succeed in life. Men and women have similar attitudes about their quality of life in most of these areas; however, the percentage of women who are very satisfied with their opportunities to succeed in life is somewhat lower: 53% of men, compared to 43% of women.

Satisfaction With Life Dimensions
Percentage "Very Satisfied"
June 11-17, 2001

Younger women (aged 18-49), who may have reaped more benefits from the women's rights movement than older women have, are nevertheless no more likely to be satisfied with their opportunities in life: 42% of women aged 18-49 are satisfied, compared to 45% of those 50 and older.

Still, only a quarter of women consider themselves "feminists," the term widely associated with the women's rights movement in this country. Naturally, identification with feminism is relatively high among Democratic and liberal women, among whom 39% and 44%, respectively, accept the label. By contrast, only 11% of Republican women and 16% of conservative women see themselves this way. The term has no greater currency among the younger generation of women than among those 50 years of age or older (26% vs. 24%).

A Workplace Fairness Gender Gap

When it comes to employment, the new Gallup survey finds women to be critical of society -- with only 32% saying they believe men and women enjoy equal job opportunities in the United States and two-thirds disagreeing. A majority of men (53%), on the other hand, believe women do have equal job rights, creating a significant gender gap in perceptions about employment.

Employed women are even more negative about job opportunities than are women who do not work outside the home: only 28% of working women believe they have equal opportunities, compared to 36% of non-employed women.

Asked about their own experiences, only 37% of women say they never feel discriminated against in public life or employment because they are women. On the other extreme, 22% report that they feel victimized by gender discrimination on a fairly frequent basis: either daily (5% of all women), weekly (6%) or monthly (11%). Between these extremes, 20% say they feel discriminated against a few times a year, while 19% say it occurs less than once a year.

The Chicken or the Egg?

Do more women than men prefer to stay home because they are frustrated with the lack of fairness in employment, or do women engender different treatment because they are more likely to leave the job market to care for family? It's a delicate issue.

In either case, the differential pull of family on men and women is evident in the Gallup survey in the answers to this question:If you were free to do either, would you prefer to have a job outside the home, or would you prefer to stay at home and take care of the house and family?

Only 53% of women, compared to 73% of men, say they would prefer to work outside the home. Close to half of women, 45%, compared to just a quarter of men, say they'd rather stay home. This gender gap is just as evident when looking at employed men and women, with only 59% of working women -- compared to 71% of working men -- saying they would continue working if they had the option.

Lifestyle Preferences
June 11-17, 2001

The current results represent a fairly major change compared to the first time this question was asked, in 1974 (by the Roper Organization). At that time, a majority of women, 60%, preferred to stay home. Since the late 1970s, however, women have been more evenly divided in their preferences.

Women: Job Outside of Home or Stay At Home?

Women's Overall Satisfaction With Life Is Comparable to Men's

Despite the notable concerns recorded about gender fairness, the new Gallup survey finds that most women are generally content with their lives, and to about the same degree that men are content. Nine in 10 women say they are satisfied with their lives, including 50% who are very satisfied and 40% who are somewhat satisfied. Among men, 55% are very satisfied and 36% are somewhat satisfied. Only 10% of women and 8% of men are dissatisfied to any degree.

Also, despite the equity concerns expressed by some women, the level of dissatisfaction among women is relatively mild compared to that felt by Hispanics and, even more so, by blacks. Whereas a majority of women are satisfied with their treatment by society and 37% are dissatisfied, the majority of blacks (60%) and Hispanics (54%) surveyed are dissatisfied with the way society treats people of their race or ethnic group.

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,375 adults, 18 years and older, including a main sample of 1,004 national adults and oversamples of blacks and Hispanics. Telephone interviews were conducted from June 11-17, 2001. An additional night of interviewing on June 18 was conducted for the black oversample. For results based on the total sample of 1,004 national adults, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Results based on the subsample of blacks include interviews with 264 black national adults and have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 7 percentage points. Results based on the subsample of Hispanics include interviews with 247 Hispanic national adults (including 59 conducted in Spanish) and have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 7 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Overall, how satisfied are you with your life -- are you very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied?

 

 

 

Very
satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Somewhat dissatisfied

Very
dissatisfied

No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17

         

National Adults

53

38

6

2

1

Men

55

36

6

2

1

Women

50

40

7

3

*

           

Non-Hispanic Whites

54

38

5

3

*

Blacks

42

45

11

1

1

Hispanics

49

39

9

3

*

           

* Less than 0.5%

         


 

Next we'd like to know how satisfied are you with each of the following aspects of your life -- very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied. How satisfied are you with -- [RANDOM ORDER]?

A. Your community as a place to live in

 

 

Very
satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Somewhat dissatisfied

Very
dissatisfied

No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17

         

National Adults

58

30

8

4

*

Men

59

29

8

3

1

Women

57

30

8

5

*

           

Non-Hispanic Whites

61

29

6

4

*

Blacks

42

38

11

8

1

Hispanics

53

31

12

4

*



B. Your current housing

 

 

Very
satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Somewhat dissatisfied

Very
dissatisfied

No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17

         

National Adults

63

30

5

2

*

Men

63

32

4

*

1

Women

63

27

7

3

*

           

Non-Hispanic Whites

66

27

5

2

*

Blacks

41

43

11

5

*

Hispanics

45

36

11

8

*



C. Your education

 

 

Very
satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Somewhat dissatisfied

Very
dissatisfied

No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17

         

National Adults

45

42

9

3

1

Men

48

40

9

2

1

Women

44

43

9

3

1

           

Non-Hispanic Whites

48

40

8

3

1

Blacks

38

44

15

3

0

Hispanics

38

41

13

7

1



D. Your family life

 

 

Very
satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Somewhat dissatisfied

Very
dissatisfied

No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17

         

National Adults

69

25

3

2

1

Men

72

25

1

1

1

Women

67

25

4

3

1

           

Non-Hispanic Whites

72

22

3

2

1

Blacks

59

32

5

3

1

Hispanics

73

21

4

2

0



E. Your financial situation

 

 

Very
satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Somewhat dissatisfied

Very
dissatisfied

No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17

         

National Adults

26

51

15

7

1

Men

28

52

15

5

*

Women

25

51

14

10

*

           

Non-Hispanic Whites

29

50

14

7

*

Blacks

15

47

20

17

1

Hispanics

23

47

17

13

*



F. Your personal health

 

 

Very
satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Somewhat dissatisfied

Very
dissatisfied

No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17

         

National Adults

54

35

6

5

*

Men

57

34

6

3

0

Women

52

35

7

6

*

           

Non-Hispanic Whites

54

34

7

5

*

Blacks

54

35

7

3

1

Hispanics

57

30

8

5

0



G. Your safety from physical harm or violence

 

 

Very
satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Somewhat dissatisfied

Very
dissatisfied

No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17

         

National Adults

55

33

7

4

1

Men

61

31

5

2

1

Women

50

35

9

6

*

           

Non-Hispanic Whites

59

31

7

3

*

Blacks

33

45

10

11

1

Hispanics

47

32

12

8

1



H. The opportunities you have had to succeed in life

 

 

Very
satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Somewhat dissatisfied

Very
dissatisfied

No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17

         

National Adults

48

38

10

3

1

Men

53

36

8

2

1

Women

43

40

11

4

2

           

Non-Hispanic Whites

49

37

10

3

1

Blacks

40

43

10

6

1

Hispanics

44

36

10

8

2



I. Your job, or the work you do

 

 

Very
satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Somewhat dissatisfied

Very
dissatisfied

No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17^

         

National Adults

50

39

7

4

0

Men

50

39

6

5

0

Women

50

38

8

4

0

           

Non-Hispanic Whites

51

37

7

5

0

Blacks

36

47

9

7

1

Hispanics

51

35

7

7

0

           

^

BASED ON FULL- OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED NATIONAL ADULTS: N=646; ±4 PCT. PTS.

 

BASED ON FULL- OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED NATIONAL ADULT MEN: N=343; ±6 PCT. PTS.

 

BASED ON FULL- OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED NATIONAL ADULT WOMEN: N=303; ±6 PCT. PTS.

 

BASED ON FULL- OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED NON-HISPANIC WHITES: N=528; ±5 PCT. PTS.

 

BASED ON FULL- OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED BLACKS: N=169; ±9 PCT. PTS.

 

BASED ON FULL- OR PART-TIME EMPLOYED HISPANICS: N=153; ±9 PCT. PTS.

* Less than 0.5%



SATISFACTION SUMMARY TABLE (BASED ON "VERY SATISFIED")


2001 Jun 11-17
(sorted by "national adults")


National Adults


(NA)
Men


(NA)
Women

Non-Hispanic Whites



Blacks



Hispanics

%

%

%

%

%

%

Family life

69

72

67

72

59

73

Current housing

63

63

63

66

41

45

Community as a place to live in

58

59

57

61

42

53

Safety from physical harm/violence

55

61

50

59

33

47

Personal health

54

57

52

54

54

57

Job/work

50

50

50

51

36

51

Opportunities to succeed in life

48

53

43

49

40

44

Education

45

48

44

48

38

38

Financial situation

26

28

25

29

15

23

(NA) National Adults

Next we'd like to know how you feel about the way various groups in society are treated. For each of the following groups please say whether you are very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied with the way they are treated. How about -- [RANDOM ORDER]?

Women

 

 

Very
satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Somewhat dissatisfied

Very
dissatisfied

No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17

         

National Adults

24

46

18

11

1

Men

35

45

13

6

1

Women

13

48

22

15

2

           

Non-Hispanic Whites

24

49

17

9

1

Blacks

14

33

31

20

2

Hispanics

27

33

18

20

2



If you were free to do either, would you prefer to have a job outside the home, or would you prefer to stay at home and take care of the house and family?

 

 

 

Outside home

Stay home

BOTH (vol.)

No opinion

 

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17

       

National Adults

62

35

2

1

Men

73

24

2

1

Women

53

45

2

*

         

Non-Hispanic Whites

61

36

2

1

Blacks

69

29

2

*

Hispanics

58

40

2

*



NATIONAL ADULT AND GENDER TREND

 

 

Outside home

Stay home

BOTH (vol.)

No opinion

 

%

%

%

%

National Adults

       

2001 Jun 11-17

62

35

2

1

1997 Sep 18-20 ^

62

30

5

3

1996 Apr 13-16 †

56

37

5

2

1994 Nov 12-Dec 3 ‡

62

31

--

7

1992 Oct 2-4 ♠

56

37

5

2

1989 Jul 25-30 ♠

35

51

12

2

1984 Aug 25-30 †

72

23

--

5

1983 Nov 11-20 ♣

58

35

3

4

         

Men

       

2001 Jun 11-17

73

24

2

1

1997 Sep 18-20 ^

74

17

5

4

1994 Nov 12-Dec 3 ‡

78

15

--

7

1992 Oct 2-4 ^

72

21

5

2

1989 Jun 22-Aug 12 ‡

81

13

--

6

1985 Mar 1-30 ‡

86

12

--

2

1983 Nov 11-20 ♣

72

21

1

6

         

Women

       

2001 Jun 11-17

53

45

2

*

1997 Sep 18-20 ^

50

42

6

2

1994 Nov 12-Dec 3 ‡

46

47

--

7

1992 Oct 2-4 ^

42

51

5

2

1989 Jul 22-Aug 12 ‡

42

51

--

7

1985 Mar 1-30 ‡

51

45

--

4

1983 Nov 11-20 ♣

45

47

5

3

1982 Jun 26-28 ^

48

47

--

5

1979 Oct 6-20 ‡

46

51

--

3

1978 Jan 7-21 ‡

49

45

--

6

1974 Apr ‡

36

60

--

4

   

^

CBS News Poll

Los Angeles Times Poll

Roper Organization Poll

CBS News/New York Times Poll

New York Times

(vol.) Volunteered response

* Less than 0.5%




Do you feel that women in this country have equal job opportunities with men, or not?

 

 

Yes

No

No opinion

 

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17

     

National Adults

42

57

1

Men

53

46

1

Women

32

67

1

       

Non-Hispanic Whites

43

56

1

Blacks

35

64

1

Hispanics

51

45

4



NATIONAL ADULT AND GENDER TREND

 

 

Yes

No

No opinion

 

%

%

%

National Adults

     

2001 Jun 11-17

42

57

1

1995 Sep 14-17

34

64

2

1993 Aug 23-25

39

60

1

1989 Dec 18-21

42

56

2

1987 Jan 26-Feb 5

48

46

6

1976 Jan

48

48

4

       

Men

     

2001 Jun 11-17

53

46

1

1995 Sep 14-17

38

59

3

1993 Aug 23-25

50

50

*

1989 Dec 18-21

46

52

2

       

Women

     

2001 Jun 11-17

32

67

1

1995 Sep 14-17

30

69

3

1993 Aug 23-25

30

69

1

1989 Dec 18-21

37

60

3

       
* Less than 0.5%


Do you feel that racial minorities in this country have equal job opportunities with Non-Hispanic Whites, or not?

 

 

Yes

No

No opinion

 

%

%

%

2001 Jun 12-17 ^

     

National Adults

48

50

2

Men

51

48

1

Women

45

52

3

       

Non-Hispanic Whites

53

45

2

Blacks

18

79

3

Hispanics

46

51

3

   

^

BASED ON NATIONAL ADULTS INTERVIEWED JUNE 12-17: N=849; ±4 PCT. PTS.

 

BASED ON NATIONAL ADULT MEN INTERVIEWED JUNE 12-17: N=402; ±5 PCT. PTS.

 

BASED ON NATIONAL ADULT WOMEN INTERVIEWED JUNE 12-17: N=447; ±5 PCT. PTS.

 

BASED ON NON-HISPANIC WHITES INTERVIEWED JUNE 12-17: N=692; ±4 PCT. PTS.

 

BASED ON BLACKS INTERVIEWED JUNE 12-17: N=241; ±7 PCT. PTS.

 

BASED ON HISPANICS INTERVIEWED JUNE 12-17: N=212; ±7 PCT. PTS.



Do you consider yourself a feminist, or not?

 

 


Yes


No

SOMETIMES/
DEPENDS (vol.)

No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17

       

National Adults

23

73

--

4

Men

20

75

--

5

Women

25

72

--

3

         

Non-Hispanic Whites

22

74

--

4

Blacks

20

74

--

6

Hispanics

40

50

--

10



NATIONAL ADULT TREND

 

 


Yes


No

SOMETIMES/
DEPENDS (vol.)

No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

National Adults

       

2001 Jun 11-17

23

73

--

4

1992 Dec 17-18 ^

33

61

--

7

         

Women

       

2001 Jun 11-17

25

72

--

3

1999 Feb 3-7 †

26

67

4

3

         
         

^ Gallup/Newsweek poll

† Based on USA Today/Gallup Women's poll

(vol.) Volunteered response



Next we have a question about your own experiences as woman. How often do you feel discriminated against in public life or employment because you are a woman -- [ROTATED: every day, every week, about once a month, a few times a year, less than once a year, (or) never]?

 

 



Every day



Every week


About once a month


A few times a year

Less than once a year




Never



No
opinion

 

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

2001 Jun 11-17^

             

Women

5

6

11

20

19

37

2

               

White women

5

6

12

19

19

37

2

Black women

6

8

6

23

19

36

2

Hispanic women

5

14

8

21

10

40

2

               

^

BASED ON NATIONAL ADULT WOMEN: N=523; ±5 PCT. PTS.

 

BASED ON NON-HISPANIC WHITE WOMEN: N=434; ±5 PCT. PTS.

 

BASED ON BLACK WOMEN: N=150; ±9 PCT. PTS.

 

BASED ON HISPANIC WOMEN: N=122; ±10 PCT. PTS.




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