MUMBAI: US broadcaster Lifetime Networks has announced that it will conduct the Lifetime Women's Pulse Polls.
It says that it will be the largest women's multi-platform research project ever undertaken by a television network, weaving in a multi-pronged package providing wide-ranging applications and implications for viewers, advertisers, affiliates and other business partners.
Throughout the year, the Lifetime Women's Pulse Polls will explore a wide range of areas examining women's lives, from consumer behaviour and spending habits, their desire for and usage of new technologies, their positions on key public policy issues, and on the lighter side, their impressions of the latest pop culture icons.
The first project will be Generation Why? which compares three generations -- Generation Y (age 18-29), Generation X (age 30-44) and Baby Boomers (age 45-59) -- on attitudes regarding sex, men, marriage and career, culminating in an on-air special with MSNBC journalist Willow Bay.
Lifetime Entertainment Services president, CEO Betty Cohen, said, "Lifetime has always been the expert on information about women and for women. To further serve advertisers, distributors, consumers, our own programming and, above all, America's women, the Lifetime Women's Pulse Polls will use an array of research methodologies to explore and give voice to the unique and diverse perspectives of women today, and project where they'll be in five or ten years."
Conducted by well-known pollsters and authors Kellyanne Conway and Celinda Lake, the initial poll, "Generation Why? unearthed some provocative findings on the three generations.
-- Never a better time to be a woman, but ... : While all three generations agreed it's never been a better time to be a woman, the majority believe women still face discrimination and men have more advantages in society. Though Gen Y, Gen X and Baby Boomers, all agree that the remedy to these problems is not a female boss -- the majority prefer a male boss.
-- "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes ... ": Gen Y women advocate marriage and children at a younger age than previous generations.
-- Myths about technology: Women will buy more high-tech gadgets than men this year, but no matter their age, women still think men are much more tech savvy. Technology is the native tongue for Gens Y & X and an acquired taste for Baby Boomers. Gen X is more likely to prefer email, while boomers and Gen Y prefer face-to-face, and Gen Y is more likely to blog than the other two groups.
-- Opting out: Contrary to popular misconceptions about highly-educated, highly-capable women declaring they'd give it all up to raise their children or pursue a passion, Gen Y women were least likely to say they'd leave their careers behind if they didn't need a paycheck.
Central to Generation Why? and on the heels of the survey, will be a six-month, 'listening tour' of women leaders and young women on college and graduate school campuses, in the workforce and in their communities, conducted by Bay with Lifetime, comparing their views with their mothers, grandmothers -- and even young men -- on a wide range of contentious contemporary issues.
