Jordan Times
Friday, October 8, 2004
Women pessimistic about state of world, survey reveals
AMMAN (JT) — A 2003 exclusive analysis of the Gallup International Voice of the People survey for the World Economic Forum (WEF) shows women are more pessimistic than men about the current state of security and prosperity in the world.
More than 43,000 people in around 50 countries
across the globe were interviewed in the survey — representing the views of
almost 1.2 billion people (more than 575 million women and 540 million men), a
WEF statement said Thursday.
Despite huge strides in recent decades towards full equality for women, it is
still true that most governments and much of the global infrastructure are still
run by men. Assessing this global environment, women see the world as less
secure and less prosperous than do men. They also see little cause for optimism
about the future.
“All of us know that women and men see the world differently but these results
show us that women feel the world is a more hostile environment than men do. As
women now constitute a majority in terms of the world's population, it is time
for male leaders to take these findings seriously and address the concerns of
women in the world,” Secretary General of Gallup International Meril James said.
Laura Deal from the WEF's Women Leaders Programme added that “through its Women
Leaders Programme, the World Economic Forum is reaching out to women and
ensuring that women's concerns are integrated into the global agenda.” In 2005,
the WEF will address the issue of women and security, and women's prospects for
2020.
“These findings clearly show that women have a significantly different view of
the world and particularly of its future — it is imperative that we tap into
these views, and understand how we can use the experience of women leaders to
improve the state of the world,” the statement quoted Deal as saying.
Findings
Asked whether their country is safer or less safe than 10 years ago, both sexes
respond negatively but six out of 10 women (61 per cent) are likely to say that
their country is less safe now compared with only just over half of all men (53
per cent) who share this negative view. This pattern is again found when people
are asked whether the country is more or less economically prosperous than 10
years ago. More than half of 575 million women represented in the survey (52 per
cent) consider their country is less economically prosperous now than 10 years
ago. For men, the corresponding figure is just under half (48 per cent). A look
at the assessment of the current family economic situation compared to 10 years
ago again shows that women are more likely to rate this as less prosperous with
almost four out of 10 claiming so (38 per cent), while the same proportion of
men (39 per cent) claim they and their families are more prosperous than 10
years ago.
Future
When considering the future, again women tend to be more pessimistic than men:
with the majority of women (51 per cent) claiming the next generation will live
in a less safe world. Among men, less than half (46 per cent) think this is
likely. Women are also slightly more likely than men to feel that the next
generation will live in a less prosperous world than we do currently, although
the differences between the sexes are minimal on this dimension.