Australian women are feeling pressured under lockdown and many are thinking about taking a new path after the pandemic comes to an end.
Bauer Media’s latest HerPulse consumer sentiment survey – the fifth, carried out among 672 women in July – found that women in Victoria, under a new lockdown, were understandably less positive than the rest of the country. Half (51%) said they were ‘concerned’ compared to 40% in all other states; nearly four in ten (38%) said they felt ‘stressed’ compared to 29% nationally.
Across the country, women continue to do the majority of the work around the house including cooking meals; among mothers, almost half (46%) said they felt overwhelmed by working from home in addition to home schooling their children.
So health and wellness remains a key focus during the pandemic. Almost three in ten (28%) said they were taking more vitamins and 27% were trying to lose weight, up from 21% in May.
Women are also looking outward when it comes to issues such as racism and the environment. The survey found nearly eight in ten (78%) of all women said they were ‘worried’ about racism around the world, rising to 88% amongst 25 to 29-year-olds. On the environment, 79% said they were worried about the planet when it came to the worldwide context, rising to 85% in the 25 to 29 cohort.
Despite, or because, of their concerns, many women are looking forward to new possibilities: one in three are thinking about investing in furthering their education, with half of 30 to 34-year-olds saying it is something they are actively looking at.
More than one in four (28%) are contemplating changing their career path completely, with a quarter considering finding a new job in the same field.
“While many parts of the country, with the exception of Victoria, slowly return to some semblance of normality, there continues to be ongoing concern by Australian women about what the future holds for them,” said Nat Bettini, research director at Bauer Media.
“This is leading them to look at their options moving forward, with many thinking about gaining new skills or changing their career paths completely, which offer opportunities to providers of these services.”
Sourced from Bauer Media
