Romney's clumsy attempts to woo women voters

Story published on Women's Views on News, Friday, April 13, 2012

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is desperate to win back female voters, after moves by Republicans to curb abortion rights in some states and limit insurance cover for contraception have led to a surge in support for Obama.

Romney is going on the offensive over jobs, claiming that 92 per cent of jobs lost over the past three years have been lost by women.

But a fact check by the Washington Post, reveals that more men than women lost their jobs in the early years of the recession, when George W Bush was in charge.

Jobs were lost in construction and finance, while female-heavy industries such as public services were hit later.

This pattern is normal in a recession.  The Washington Post quotes US government figures which suggest 3.4 million men have lost their jobs since the start of the recession, compared to 1.8 million women.

Romney’s new-found appetite for women’s rights are dubious. Lanhee Chen, his policy director, could not confirm that he would support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, legislation introduced by Obama, to make it easier for women to file lawsuits for equal pay.

He has also been accused of deferring to his wife, when faced with questions about women.

“My wife has the occasion, as you know, to campaign on her own and also with me,” Romney told newspaper editors, “and she reports to me regularly that the issue women care about most is the economy,” he told reporters.

UK women have greater sense of wellbeing than men

Story published on Women's Views on News, Friday, 13 April, 2012

Women in the UK are happier and more satisfied with their lives than men, but, according to recent government statistics, they worry more.

Between April and September 2011, respondents to the Annual Population Survey were asked questions about their well-being for the first time.

They were asked to rate satisfaction with their lives, whether they found them worthwhile, their happiness and anxiety levels on a scale of one to ten.

Women scored an average 7.44 overall, against 7.34 for men.

Younger women and older women tended to be happier, found life more worthwhile and were more satisfied than the middle-aged, but levels of well-being started to decline for women over 80.

Women also reported higher levels of anxiety than men.  Female respondents said they had an anxiety level of 3.29, whereas men put theirs at 3.09.

Women aged 50-54 were most anxious, while 16-19-year-olds rated themselves as the most carefree.
What We Do, a recent study of work and leisure activities produced by the Office of National Statistics as part of its National Measuring Well-Being Programme suggested one reason may be because fewer women work long hours.

But women fared less well when it came to participating in sport and fitness activities, widely believed to improve health and well-being.

Only 47 per cent of women had participated in sport and physical activity in the last four months, compared with 61 per cent of men.