Indian women are more optimistic in the world compared to their counterparts in the developed nations. Despite facing a lot of stress, women in India splash money on health, vacations, beauty products and electrical appliances and are gaining greater control over their lives, according to a survey.
A survey of 6,500 women across 21 developed and developing countries revealed that Indian women are most optimistic about opportunities for growth, with 78% of the lot confident about better financial stability and better chances for education for their daughters.
"Indian women are now more able in making simple day-to-day decisions. It is getting increasingly important for marketers to understand their attitudes," said Surekha Poddar, executive director, customised research, Nielsen Indian Region. While 58% said they had more opportunities to reduce stress compared to their mothers, 78% believed that their daughters would have more opportunities than them. Despite getting increasingly indulgent in clothes, health and beauty, more than three-fourth of the surveyed lot gave more importance to saving for their children's education.
"Women in India see greater hopes for their daughters in terms of growth opportunities. This is starkly different from the women in developed countries, who have been empowered with the freedom of choice for a while now," said Poddar.
In terms of media consumption too, 51% of Indian women are now viewing more television than they were two years ago, as compared to 40% of the female respondents globally. 77% of Indian women believe that their daughters will have more opportunities in accessing technology.
"Indian women are slowly being influenced by their use of technology and access to the internet, though their remains a significant reliance on traditional media," Poddar said.
However, greater empowerment of women has led to greater stress too. Around 87% of Indian women said they often felt pressured for time, while 64% said they felt stressed all the time, as opposed to 54% and 38% of women respectively, in the developed countries. "Balancing traditional responsibilities with the new-age pressures is a big challenge for Indian women. Her growing expectation from herself to perform both these tasks efficiently results in stress," Poddar added.
