An exclusive analysis of the Gallup International Voice of the People survey for the World Economic Forum (WEF) shows women are more pessimistic than men about the current state of security and prosperity in the world, WEF said in a statement on Thursday.
More than 43 000 citizens in over 50 countries across the globe were interviewed in the survey – representing the views of almost 1,2 billion citizens (more than 575 million women and 540 million men).
Despite huge strides in recent decades towards full equality for women, it is still true that most governments and much of the global infrastructure are still run by men. Assessing this global environment, women see the world as less secure and less prosperous than men do.
“All of us know that women and men see the world differently but these results show us that women feel the world is a more hostile environment than men do. As women now constitute a majority in terms of the world’s population, it is time for male leaders to take these findings seriously and address the concerns of women in the world,” Gallup Secretary-General Meril James said.
WEF’s Women Leaders’ Laura Deal added: “Through its Women Leaders Programme, the World Economic Forum is reaching out to women and ensuring that women’s concerns are integrated into the global agenda.
“These findings clearly show that women have a significantly different view of the world and particularly of its future — it is imperative that we tap into these views, and understand how we can use the experience of women leaders to improve the state of the world.”
Asked whether their country is safer or less safe than 10 years ago, both sexes responded negatively but six out of 10 women (61%) are likely to say that their country is less safe now compared with only just over half of all men (53%) who share this negative view.
More than half of 575 million women represented in the survey (52%) consider their country less economically prosperous now than 10 years ago. For men, the corresponding figure is just under half (48%).
A look at the assessment of the current family economic situation compared to 10 years ago again shows that women are more likely to rate this as less prosperous with almost four out of 10 claiming this is so (38%), while the same proportion of men (39%) claim they and their families are more prosperous than 10 years ago.
When considering the future, women tend to be more pessimistic than men.
The majority of women (51%) claimed that the next generation will live in a less safe world. Among men, less than half (46%) think this is likely.
Women are also slightly more likely than men to feel that the next generation will live in a less prosperous world than we do currently, although the differences between the sexes are minimal on this dimension. – I-Net Bridge