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Women's Anxiety At 'Unprecedented' Levels

Unhappy-Woman

President Obama isn't the only one with unemployment on his mind: A new study from Boston Consulting Group reports that women are more worried about jobs and the economy than at the height of the recession.

Some 57% of the women included in the survey say managing household finances is their biggest concern; when asked the same question two years ago, they were most worried about not having enough time. And compared to men, women are 21% more likely to feel anxious about the future, and 44% more likely to feel a great deal of stress in their lives.

"The anxiety among women is unprecedented," Michael J. Silverstein, senior partner at The Boston Consulting Group and coauthor of "Women Want More," tells Marketing Daily. "Women are upset about a lot of things, including the way the government works and all the failed programs. Unemployment is a bigger problem among men, who have lost about 85% of the jobs, but if women are married, it makes them worried about the family's finances. And if they're single, it means unemployed men are ineligible. They have a lot of anxiety and resentment and they really feel like no one is listening."

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That includes marketers -- especially those in life insurance, investing and banking, "the top three categories women mention as not doing a good job of reaching out to them," he says.

Overall, almost a third say they do not feel financially secure at all, while only 13% say they feel very financially secure, the research found, and 57% say they are spending less. "They are trading down in a wide variety of categories while trying to maintain their lifestyle, in areas that are relatively invisible, including switching to private-label brands, reducing their at-home inventories, skipping a haircut, or wearing the jeans they've been wearing for the last few years."

And 73% say they have been personally affected by the global economic downturn. (The survey included nearly 1,100 U.S. women.)

It's just that financial concerns have gotten that much bigger.

For marketers, Silverstein says that means it's more important than ever to create value packages, "adding features to deliver more value, not stripping things out." Innovation is also more important, he says. "She is going to spend money, but she wants to feel wise."

And finally, he says addressing her time concerns is still critical to connecting with women. It's not that time pressures have gone away, and between 90 and 95% of professional women say they are responsible for cleaning, grocery shopping, doing laundry, car care and child care.

"She is willing to trade some of her money for anything that means she can spend less time completing a task."

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