Women support a wide ranging and aggressive policy agenda, with job-independent health care, portable retirement, and equal pay and benefits topping the list. Key Findings 1. Equal pay and benefits and juggling family and work are critical concerns for all groups of women . Working women are focusing on benefits, not just wages. Retirement is a big worry with the preferred solution being portable pensions that can be taken from one job to another.
Women rank retirement second only after education on their list of concerns.
Health care costs, another top concern, is also being met with a desire for self-management. The preferred solution is health insurance independent from employment. Women and men believe government can play a helping role and look to government more in 2000 than four years ago. Adults look to government to help tackle tough problems such as child care and caring for elderly relatives, with a plurality of both women and men siding with a government solution to child care. Entrepreneurship continues to be an attractive option as women seek more control and flexibility.