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Press Releases
Woman's Hour survey: liberalism shunned in favour of traditional values in sex and relationships
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The results from a survey for 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4's Woman's Hour suggest that men and women are questioning whether the liberalism of the Sixties is still desired.
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When questioned about sex and relationships, many respondents showed an aspiration to settle down in their twenties, have families before they reach 30, and remain committed to one partner for life.
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The survey, specially commissioned by Woman's Hour for the programme's 60th anniversary (7 October), is split into four categories - sex and relationships; work; parenting and caring and domestic arrangements.
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The results will be analysed and discussed on the programme throughout this week (beginning today, Monday 2 October).
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The results on sex and relationships include the following findings:
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 Ninety per cent of men and women say that the ideal age to have children is under 30.
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Forty-three per cent of men and women aspire to a lifelong commitment with one partner.
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Forty per cent say that the ideal age of settling down is between 25 and 27 years old, and 33 per cent say it's as young as 21 to 24.
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Ninety per cent of men and women asked claim never to have had an affair.
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Eighty per cent say that it's wrong for unhappily married couples to stay together for the sake of their children.
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Fifty-eight per cent of men say that it's right to settle for a 'good enough partner'.
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Results on work, lifestyle and parenting include:
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Forty-one per cent of women feel guilty about placing their pre-school child in childcare, compared to 20% of men.
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Seventy-two per cent say that money is an important factor when deciding when to have children. Fifty-one per cent say that it's important to delay until marriage.
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Thirty-eight per cent of men and women felt that a mother at home is the ideal way in which to care for pre-school children, as opposed to only 0.3% for a father staying at home as the childcarer.
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Forty-five per cent of women and 57% of men reported sharing household chores equally.
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Sixty-five per cent of women believe that they should receive 50% of a couple's estate when divorcing, compared to 40% of men.
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Dr Sarah Childs, University of Bristol, and Dr Rosie Campbell, Birkbeck College, have analysed the survey.
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Of the results, they say: "The survey suggests that women are not prepared to settle for merely a 'good enough man'. Women are still doing more of the chores and childcare and they're looking for Mr Right, not Mr Will Do."
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Notes to Editors
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Survey conducted by ICM Research. Ìý
Fieldwork dates: 4 to 5 September 2006. Ìý
Interview method: Telephone
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Population effectively sampled: All adults aged 18+
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Sampling method: Within each Government office region a random sample of telephone numbers was drawn from the entire BT database of domestic telephone numbers.
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Each number so selected had its last digit randomised so as to provide a sample including both listed and unlisted numbers.
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Sample size: 1,000
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Data weighting: Data was weighted to the profile of all adults aged 18+ (including non telephone-owning households).
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Data was weighted by sex, age, social class, household tenure, work status, number of cars in the household and whether or not respondent has taken a foreign holiday in the last three years.
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Targets for the weighted data were derived from the National Readership survey, a random probability survey comprising 34,000 random face-to-face interviews conducted annually. Ìý
SD/AP/CH
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