Key Findings Include: Developing Countries Very Optimistic with Future
Women Least Satisfied on Prospects from Education and Career Women
Optimistic that a Woman Will Lead their Nation in 10 Years
NEW YORK, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Avon Products, Inc. today released
findings from its 2007 Avon Worldwide Women's Poll at the United Nations.
During the inaugural Global Summit for a Better Tomorrow, presented by the
Virtue Foundation in partnership with Avon, Avon Chairman and CEO Andrea
Jung presented the findings to a gathering of the foremost voices on the
concerns facing women in the world today. In conjunction with International
Women's Day, the 16-country poll of 8,000 women measures life satisfaction
and empowerment, and is unprecedented in its scope, size and focus.
The 2007 Avon Worldwide Women's Poll and Empowerment Index illustrates
vivid differences and common goals in women's reported sense of empowerment
across the world and point to opportunities for women's future progress.
The full report will be available on March 8, 2007 on http://www.avon.com.
Key Learnings From Women Across The World
* The 2007 Avon Worldwide Women's Empowerment Index analyzed women's
perceptions about six dimensions of their lives, yielding a single,
worldwide empowerment score of 64, from a scale of 0 to 100, indicating
women are two-thirds of the way towards feelings of full empowerment.
Among developed nations, the index is 70; among developing nations, 61.
* Worldwide, Women Convey Optimism, Tremendous Satisfaction About The Most
Personal Aspects Of Their Lives:
- Worldwide, women report the greatest satisfaction from those aspects
of life that are the most personal: control over one's own life
(92% very/somewhat satisfied), decisions about one's religious or
spiritual life (89% very/somewhat satisfied), and attention and
ability to give care to one's family (88% very/somewhat satisfied).
- Across these developed and developing countries, strong majorities of
women believe that their future is bright. Over six in ten women
believe a woman will be the head of state in their countries ten years
from today.
- And of note, in places where challenges are perceived as the greatest,
women from developing countries feel more optimistic about a brighter
future than women in developed countries. About two-thirds of women
from developing countries say young women ten years from now will have
a better life than young women of today, almost double what women from
developed countries believe.
* In Schools and in the Labor Market, There Is Critical Progress Still To
Be Made:
- Women in developing countries are greatly unsatisfied with their
educational opportunities. As a known, critical pathway to future
successes and greater empowerment, educational opportunities rank last
in satisfaction for women in these countries.
- In terms of work and career, only about 4 in 10 women are satisfied
with the opportunity to get a paid job and pursue the career of their
choice. Further, the gap between women's satisfaction in developed
(52%) and developing (33%) nations is pronounced: 19 percentage
points.
The 2007 Avon Worldwide Women's Poll asked women about their
satisfaction on thirty-four aspects of their lives and sense of
empowerment. These aspects span six dimensions: (1) family decision-making
and support, (2) social and civic participation, (3) financial
independence, (4) health and safety, (5) educational opportunity, and (6)
work and career opportunity. Together, these capture the concept of
empowerment through the fulfillment of basic needs, having and realizing
opportunities, and enjoying equality and independence.
Derived from the Poll, the 2007 Avon Worldwide Women's Index is
computed by taking the average of the six dimension indices. The Index
yields a single number that captures women's perceptions of empowerment
worldwide.
Country Specific Findings: The United States
* In the United States, the Index rankings across the six dimensions
demonstrate that women feel the most empowered by their social and civic
participation -- a finding consistent with women in developed countries
as a whole. For U.S. women, financial independence ranked second;
followed by personal health and safety, and family decision-making and
support. Educational opportunities, and work and career opportunities
were the dimensions where women felt the least satisfied.
"We know, and celebrate, that women across the world continue to enjoy
increasing freedoms and success," said Andrea Jung, Avon's chairman and
chief executive officer. "From economic empowerment to desires to improve
their education, personal safety, and health, in this research we hear
women from across the world expressing hope for a better tomorrow. We are
especially encouraged to hear the strongest optimism come from women whose
countries have the farthest to go."
"At Avon, we remain committed to elevating women's empowerment in their
families, in their communities, and across their countries. Women's
advancement is contingent upon all of these dimensions of empowerment,"
Jung added. "From this new Index, we also have a roadmap. We can see and
measure that the biggest unrealized opportunities for women worldwide are
in their work, career, and educational opportunities."
"Never before have we been able to listen to the voices of so many
women worldwide in one study, so focused on their lives, their futures, and
what's important to them," said Xiaoyan Zhao, Senior Vice-President and
Global Director of GfK Roper Public Affairs. "These findings are critical
to our continued understanding and improvement of the lives of women across
the globe."
About The Research
The 2007 Avon Worldwide Women's Poll and Empowerment Index was
conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs headquartered in New York City, USA,
working with its in-country affiliates and partners. The Chinese survey
data was courtesy of Horizon Research and Consulting in China.
Representative samples of the non-rural population of each country were
used. In each country, about 500 women age 18+ were interviewed for the
study. In Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, China, India, Philippines, Egypt,
South Africa, and Turkey, in-home in-person random-route methods were used;
in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, and
Japan, RDD (Random Digit Dialing) telephone interviewing methods were used.
Interviews occurred between January 12 and January 29, 2007. Each country's
data was weighted by age and education to accurately reflect the
distribution of the represented population.
For the total sample of 8,000 women, sampling error is plus/minus 1.1%.
For analyses, drawn from World Bank methodology, "Developed Countries"
include the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Japan;
"Developing Countries" include Poland, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela,
China, India, Philippines, Egypt, South Africa, and Turkey. For the
"Developed Country" sample size of 2,500, the sampling error is 1.9% and
for the "Developing Country" sample size of 5,500, the sampling error is
1.4%.
More information about the 2007 Avon Worldwide Women's Poll and
Empowerment Index will be available at http://www.avon.com on March 8.
About Avon Products, Inc.
Avon, the company for women, is a leading global beauty company, with
over $8 billion in annual revenue. As the world's largest direct seller,
Avon markets to women in well over 100 countries through over five million
independent Avon Sales Representatives. Avon's product line includes beauty
products, fashion jewelry and apparel, and features such well-recognized
brand names as Avon Color, Anew, Skin-So-Soft, Avon Solutions, Advance
Techniques, Avon Naturals, Mark, and Avon Wellness. Learn more about Avon
and its products at http://www.avoncompany.com.
SOURCE Avon Products, Inc.
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