The first part of the 2023 Women's Fan Data Insight Analysis is presented in a data-based way, leading enterprises and users to understand the current situation of women in the three life aspects of "workplace environment", "economic action" and "physical and mental maintenance", as well as the three major trends towards a diversified workplace in the future!
On International Women's Day 2023, the global theme of "#Embrace Equity embraces fairness", women's workplace work, economic consumption, physical and mental maintenance after the epidemic, there are new changes and needs, embrace fairness, need to see the status quo, and progress with women.
Women's fans do large-scale research for users every year, provide data on Taiwanese society's understanding of women's current situation, and invite individuals, enterprises, industries, and governments to take action with women's fans.
This year's International Women's Day, we have consolidated our post-pandemic observation from 2020 to 2023, with a total of 8 questionnaires, with an average of 1,500 participants each time, which are composed of three aspects: "workplace environment", "economic action" and "physical and mental care".
We look forward to working together to enable women to be fair and inclusive with diversity, and finally to practice and create the changes we want to see.
Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash
1. Current situation of the three major challenges in the women's workplace in 2023
(1) Unequal pay for equal work
In Taiwan, where gender equality seems to be the leader, women are still facing the most basic challenge of "unequal pay for equal work", and the issue of equal pay for equal work has not been on the agenda of most companies for many years, and the existing mechanisms are obviously still unable to respond.
Behind the justice of workplace distribution lies in whether a workplace can give multi-gender workers equal development space.
According to the 2018 Women's Fan "Economic Autonomy Survey", more than sixty percent (66%) of women believe that the biggest difficulty in pursuing economic autonomy is caused by the general "unequal salary distribution between men and women" in the workplace, and among all subjects, only about three-in-ten believe that in contemporary society, boys and girls already have equal opportunities to pursue independence in economic life.
(Extended reading: [Infographic] Economic Autonomy Survey!) A picture to take you to a more confident life)
At the same time, according to the 2020 Women's Fan "Women's Impact Survey" report, 34% of subjects still believe that unequal pay for equal work in the workplace is a top priority that needs to be improved. However, this matter extended to the 2021 Women's Fan "Diversity and Influence Survey", but more than thirty percent (30.9%) still said that "the company does not give transparent and equal promotion opportunities".
Even until the second quarter of 2022 Women's Fan "Women's Workplace Status Survey", more than 30% of women pointed out that the current workplace still has the problem of "unequal pay for equal work", which shows that during the two years from 2020 to 2022, enterprises have limited efforts to exercise equal rights in the workplace, and the adjustment range of the salary system needs to be improved.
If all the distribution of social resources and the division of labor in the family need to return to a person's plasticity in the capital market to consider and judge, unfair distribution in the workplace is equivalent to depriving women or other vulnerable groups of their right to choose.
For example, when a family needs to make choices because they need to take care of elders and young children, women or other vulnerable groups are easily forced to give up social life because they "earn less" and "have a lower chance of promotion". This situation has a considerable chance of affecting women's ability to maintain economic autonomy.
(2) Lack of a pluralistic and inclusive environment
Unconscious bias and gender ceiling in the workplace still restrict the promotion and development of women and gender diverse groups, and under the premise of insufficient "sense of security" and lack of "support system", gender discrimination, harassment, and workplace pornography are still quite common, and the tolerance of diverse groups in the workplace continues to be low.
According to the "Women's Workplace Status Survey" in the first quarter of 2022, more than half (54.3%) of subjects still pointed out that they are not sure whether their workplace is friendly enough for LGBTQ people since the legalization of same-sex marriage; Nearly 20% (19.6%) of respondents said their workplace was not LGBTQ friendly.
(Extended reading: Women fans DEI workplace survey | Companies encourage respect, but more than 60% still allow inappropriate gender/age jokes to occur)
In the same year, women's fans also found through the "Women's Workplace Status Survey" that among the 825 respondents who had experienced/observed unfair and illegal treatment such as discrimination, prejudice, differential treatment, and sexual harassment, more than 60% said that when they encountered gender discrimination and harassment in the workplace, they did not dare to express their findings to their supervisors and responsible units; At the same time, more than 60% of workplaces continue to tolerate discrimination such as age, gender, and race within the organization.
In addition to showing the disregard for sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the domestic workplace, there is no way to provide employees with an effective and safe channel to complain.
Many subjects said that most of the targets of sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace had rights and subordination to themselves, and some even had direct supervisors, and in this case, the company system did not protect the career development and relationship with colleagues after the parties' complaints, so that most employees were forced to silence.
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
In addition to the above-mentioned gender issues, unconscious bias and discrimination remain almost pervasive.
According to the "Women's Workplace Status Survey" in the first quarter of 2022, up to 94% of the tested said that age differences and single discrimination with colleagues are key factors that make them incompatible with others in the workplace.
The reason why I mention this is because when we talk about DEI policy in the workplace, it includes not only equal rights for gender and race, but all differences between human beings and others should be given space for mutual understanding and respect.
(3) Insufficient support for women's promotion
Inheriting the past social context, contemporary women still have to assume a variety of gender roles in addition to self-practice, and the time allocation between individuals, physical expenditure and mental energy load often become obstacles to women's pursuit of self-development.
Under such circumstances, if companies cannot provide an understanding and support system based on women's needs, women's career development will still be subject to invisible role differences and gender ceilings.
According to the 2021 Women's Fan Diverse Leadership Survey, the main reasons that restrict women's leadership development include not being able to find ways to improve themselves (64.2%), the pressure of existing tasks (40.30%), unsatisfactory financial situation (32.30%), and the collision of family roles and self (29.10%). Among them, the conflict between the division of labor in the family and social roles has attracted the most attention.
(Extended reading: Writer and host Zeng Baoyi: "The so-called leadership is to enable everyone around you to do the right thing in the right position.") ）
According to the 2020 Women's Ideal Life Survey, 72.1% of women expect society and families to provide care support systems so that women can find resources when they need help; At the same time, 61.1% of women hope to get enough psychological support from family and society to alleviate the anxiety and pressure of women taking on care roles.
Behind these expectations, we also find that the support networks behind women are still inadequate.
Secondly, many women also said in qualitative surveys that because women still lack equal promotion channels and role models to follow compared to men in most workplaces, they often prefer to rely on the assistance of internal policies and resources. Among them, 43.8% of female subjects believe that at present, Taiwanese enterprises generally lack the resources and channels for internal training and on-the-job training.
Second, three major demand trends in the female-friendly workplace
Women's conflicts between personal career and career roles, as well as the neglect of gender-specific needs in unfriendly environments, directly or indirectly hinder women's pursuit of self-growth and practice at work.
In the face of the environment, women expect companies to create a more inclusive environment, a system and atmosphere based on the needs of gender diversity, and provide internal training to enhance the awareness of diversity and inclusion within the enterprise, so that employees can have a richer imagination of "leadership", and women can be more willing and confident to imagine more possibilities for their career development.
(Extended reading: Female directors become listed on the lister must!) The FSC has issued the 2023 Sustainable Development Action Plan, what should enterprises do? ）
(1) Prevention and control of sexual harassment
As mentioned above, sexual harassment still frequently appears in various workplace environments, and after various degrees of sexual harassment, it is difficult for many companies to provide safe and enforceable rescue procedures and solutions for sexual harassment victims.
Therefore, according to the 2020 Women's Ideal Life Survey, more than 60% (63.2%) of women believe that the most urgent and most urgent workplace and social issues are "workplace sexual harassment/sexual assault prevention".
(2) Diversity and inclusion internal training
Appropriately providing content and support conditions for women's career development and promotion within the company is a necessary means to break the gender ceiling in the early stage. In the face of a disadvantageous group that has been constrained by family, society and workplace operation patterns for many years, it is important to break down gender barriers and provide diverse and inclusive in-house training opportunities.
(Extended reading: DEI Diversity and Inclusion|Breaking the Problem of Choosing One of Family Work, Women Fan of Remote Work and Flexible Working Hours Practice)
According to the 2022 Second Quarter Women's Workplace Survey, women expect the workplace environment to move in four directions: "open and transparent communication environment", "gender equality in management", "equal welfare policies" and "flexible working hour options".
In the same report, it can be seen that 72.6% of the participants expect enterprises to have an open communication environment to solve the organizational situation of diversity and inclusive management awareness; At the same time, 52% of the participants expected fair benefits for people of different genders, roles, occupations and life stages within the company. 51.6% of the participants expected companies to provide distance friendly policies/flexible working hours options according to their goals and duties.
(2) Women's leadership training
At present, in Taiwan's workplace environment, there are still a large number of women who are hindered in actual promotion because of the lack of samples of female leaders in the workplace; On the other hand, on the level of self-perception and emotion, female workers are also "less likely" than men to affirm themselves at work, so that women's leadership potential has been underestimated.
According to the 2021 Women's Fan "Diverse Leadership Survey", more than ninety percent of women expect themselves to have leadership, but nearly seventy percent agree that "leadership traits are not similar and different by gender (68.3%)", and 30% believe that "leadership traits vary with gender (31.6%)".
A more detailed excavation of different leadership traits of different genders will show that the vast majority of subjects believe that male leadership traits mainly include "decisiveness / decisiveness", "vision / vision", "momentum / decisiveness", "courage / strong / domineering"; Women's leadership traits emphasize EQ and empathy, such as "empathy", "carefulness / delicacy", "softness and rigidity / understanding and tolerance / caring / gentle and firm", "elasticity / all-round / affinity", etc.
However, according to the qualitative and quantitative data content analysis of the 2021 Women's Fan "Multiple Leadership Survey", it can be found that the three abilities that the subjects believe leaders need the most are relatively neutral and gender-neutral. They are: "emotional regulation ability (61.4%)", "insight into trends and good at setting target channels (51.4%)", "good communication to achieve consensus, and smooth implementation of multiple parties (48.8%)".
Based on this data, enterprises need to break the self-limiting thinking through diversity inclusion and leadership training.
Third, the current situation and demand of women's financial management and home purchase
Women participate in the workplace and build their careers with the sole aim of achieving economic independence. But what are the more core pursuits behind women's economic independence?
With the rise of women's self-awareness, the concepts of "pampering themselves" and "investing in themselves" have deepened people's hearts, and after women's economic independence, their imagination of their ideal life has become more and more diversified, and entertainment, shopping, and experience are also the main relaxation channels for women in their spare time and leisure time.
In terms of investment, compared with men, women have a relatively low tolerance for risks, investment strategies are also conservative, and financial decisions such as consumption, home purchase, and investment are mostly aimed at responding to their own needs and improving their personal quality of life.
(1) Women's consumption status: willing to consume for themselves, mainly shopping, entertainment and experience
Women's consumption and financial management are consistent with life philosophy: the pursuit of self-growth and life experience.
Be willing to spend for yourself, shop for yourself, and entertain yourself. Because it does not pursue the maximization of huge wealth, relatively speaking, financial management behavior is relatively conservative. Home buying is also based on autonomy rather than investment behavior. Women's economic autonomy, the goal is to make decisions for themselves, not to accommodate others, to have a better quality of life, just right, just good.
According to the 2020 Women's Fan's "Economic Autonomy Survey", nearly eighty percent (77%) of women hope to bring themselves a freer life through economic autonomy, and can bring themselves greater happiness and happiness without having to accommodate others.
(Extended reading: Money and its origin|Inventory of 4 banks friendly women's financial services, buying a house and starting a business is not a dream)
This is reflected in women's consumption behavior. Also according to the 2020 Women's Fan's "Economic Autonomy Survey", it can be found that in a month's consumption, in addition to basic expenses, most people spend money on "travel and fun", "investment and financial management" and "leisure interests"; At the same time, 75% of women expect a better quality of life through financial independence and the ability to pamper themselves more.
According to the statistics of women's fans in 2020, nearly eighty percent (79%) of women spend the highest amount of "shopping" a month, far exceeding food, transportation and other leisure and entertainment, which shows that the trend of contemporary women pampering themselves through shopping and consumption is increasing, and the consumption power is quite amazing.
(2) Current situation of women's investment and financial management: the proportion of monthly salary investment is conservative
There are many cases of women being slightly conservative in investment and financial management, and the rebate to a certain "imposter mentality" that women generally have, makes women more inclined to conservative financial strategies when financial knowledge is relatively scarce or there is no way to ensure investment efficiency.
According to the 2018 Women's Fan "Economic Autonomy Survey", it was also found that the vast majority of women are slightly conservative in their investment and financial decisions. 67% of women invested less than 20% of their monthly salary, and more than half of the participants chose to manage their finances with lower risk methods such as credit card rewards, regular fixed investment, and savings policies.
In the case of conservative and cautious financial behavior, women do not have much expectation of the feedback that investment and financial management can bring.
Through the 2018 questionnaire survey, it can also be found that women do not have high expectations for the feedback that investment and financial management can bring. If you take a scale from 1 to 10, you will find that women's expectations for investment and financial management profits are only 6.9 points, and women believe that they can take risks in investment and financial management only 5.2 points.
(3) The current situation of women's ideal residence: nearly ninety percent of women consider buying a house, and first-time buyers consider self-occupancy
Most of the interviewed women buy houses based on self-occupancy, considering whether the house itself has room for appreciation or return on investment because they "want to have their own space" is not the main consideration of female first-time buyers.
Among them, 78.6% wanted to have their own space; 40.4% believe that a home is a necessary asset; 37.5% want to have enough space.
As for affordable housing prices and mortgage coverage, it is related to salary as the main source of income. More than seventy percent want to buy $10 million, and the monthly payment amount for affordable mortgages is "20,000 to 30,000 (84.9%)" at most.
(Extended reading: Is "housing for the elderly" really safe?) Before planning retirement, you must know 3 real estate pension methods|Women's financial management)
(4) Women's expectations for economic autonomy: not accommodating to others, and having a better quality of life
For many people, the most important thing to shine in the workplace, to obtain money and wealth, is to practice ideals, or to some extent to achieve social status, respect from others, or to maximize the pursuit of wealth in the process.
However, according to the results of the 2020 Women's Fan Women's "Ideal Life Survey", it will be found that compared to the above, seventy percent of female subjects put their life goals and pursuits on "personal expertise, interests can be developed", and hope to find a job that matches their abilities and interests.
At the same time, 77% of people hope to "bring a freer life and mentality, without having to accommodate others" through economic autonomy; More than 75% expect "a better quality of life and the ability to pamper themselves".
It can be seen that compared with achieving social status and pursuing maximum wealth, most women regard "self-practice" and "self-growth" as their main pursuit goals in life.
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
This phenomenon can also be seen through the "Women's Workplace Status Survey" in the second quarter of 2022, in which we found that contemporary women pay considerable attention to "self-cultivation and growth in the workplace and workplace", and even more than seventy percent (74%) of the subjects pay attention to whether the workplace has the possibility of training courses and continuous growth.
Of course, participating in social life and achieving their own achievements and careers in the workplace will not affect the expectations of some women for forming a family and taking on family roles.
However, through the 2020 "Ideal Life Survey" of women fans, it can also be found that contemporary women have prerequisites for forming a family and having children, and nearly ninety percent (86%) of women hope that the future life model with their partner will be a "two-income family".
In terms of family planning, 40.4% of women are willing to conceive and have children on the premise of financial stability and the other half are willing to accept their parenting and care responsibilities.
The implication is that the remaining nearly six-in-ten women are not their primary pursuit in life to have the next generation.
Read the next post:2023 Women's Force Data Survey (Part II)|Women's Sports Maintenance 3 Trends, Establish a sense of ritual and maintain a healthy posture