Building on traditional models, political ideologies, assumptions, or advocacy positions, this study asks women themselves to define their roles and their concerns. On several key questions, their views are compared to a representative group of 460 U.S. men, as well as to representative samples of 1,005 women and men in Canada and 499 women and men in Mexico. The U.S. study presents a definitive new portrait of women's views on family, work, society and the future. Women fully accept the provider role - both its nurturing and economic components. Family remains at the core of what's important for all women, whether they work inside or outside the home.
Education is critical to how women fare.
Education predicts a great deal about a woman's life, not only her earnings and benefits, but attitudes towards her life and the vision she has for the future. Women bring to work what the workplace needs, but they are not getting what they need in return. Women are very concerned about employers providing fewer benefits and about the difficulty of integrating work and family life. Furthermore, working fewer hours, which both men and women would prefer to do, reduces the likelihood of having the benefits families need. Women overwhelmingly feel that the current debate about family values should focus on valuing families of all types and the way people behave toward each other, not the structure of the families they live in.