Chapter 1: Introduction

This report provides an analysis of national survey data on woman and material assets
in Great Britain and Japan, with a particular focus on housing.

In Britain thecommissioning, design, fieldwork and analysis took place between 2003 and 2004.
The first section of this report is concerned with methodological issues concernedwith the construction of the questionnaire, and the collection and analysis of data in
the British context. Chapter two then considers issues related to the cross-national
nature of this study particularly in relation to the relevance of concepts and terms indifferent cultural contexts and systems. The report then moves on to the key focus on
this study which is housing/land in Chapter 3. It explores tenure structure, types ofownership and mortgage arrangements. In Chapter 4 the report takes a look atinvestments, pensions and savings and, in Chapter 5 provides an analysis of attitudinal
responses regarding women’s financial independence and security in later life.
Chapter 6 provides a context for the overall study by exploring factors influencing
ownership and accumulation of assets particularly in relation to employment, incomeand wealth of women.
Method and Approach
The British survey is based on a total sample of 1,004 interviews, completed face-toface, in-home with a representative sample of women aged between 25 and 54. The
survey was conducted by MORI Social Research Institute on behalf of the Universityof Bristol, UK. The survey was designed to collect information about women’smaterial and financial assets, focusing on property, savings, investments, and pensions.
The survey also collected some attitudinal information about women’s perceptions of
their financial security and independence.
A sample of wards was drawn from across Great Britain. Wards were ranked by adiscriminator (the proportion of the population in Social Class AB) and then selected
proportional to the number of women aged 25 to 54 years in each. The profile ofwomen aged 25-54 in the selected wards was then compared against the profile of－ 1 －women in that age group, nationally, to check that it was representative. These agegroups were chosen for specific reasons. It was decided not to include women
between 15-24 years because it was felt that the proportion of women in this agegroup who owned their own home was likely to be very small. This was thought to be
especially the case in Japan. Those over 55 were not included as their circumstanceswere thought unlikely to contribute to the overall analysis of this particular project,particularly in Great Britain.
Details of Survey Design and Implementation
Quotas were set using the following variables:
Age (25-34, 35-44, 45-54 years)
Tenure (owner-occupiers (including shared ownership), housing association/local
authority renters, and others (eg private renters).
Work status (working full-time, and not working full-time)
Interviews were carried out face-to-face, in residents’ homes, between 1st Septemberand 14th October 2003.
The questionnaire was developed and designed by MORI, on behalf of the Universityof Bristol. Interviews averaged 10 minutes, although this varied depending onwhether the respondent was a home owner or buying on a mortgage, or not.
The questionnaire was divided into seven main sections:•Employment status•

Income•Mortgages•

Owners of second/other properties•

Investments•Pensions•Savings－ 2 －Most questions were pre-coded (e.g. either using a prompt card, write in numbers, andallowing an open response but providing interviewers with a list of likely responses tocode), and we also allowed some ‘write-in’ answers (e.g. ‘other’).

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