Women are Strong Believers in Supporting Causes
According to new data released today by Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and Georgetown University's Center for Social Impact Communication, 80 percent of American women (yours truly included) believe that supporting causes creates a sense of purpose and meaning in life.
The findings are part of the larger Dynamics of Cause Engagement study, conducted among American adults age 18 and older in late 2010, which explored trends in cause involvement and the roles of a variety of activities in fostering engagement with social issues. Here is a breakdown of the study's key findings:
- More than four in ten Americans (45%) are actively involved with supporting causes, and women make up a significantly larger part of this group than men.
- Women are more compelled to support youth-related causes like bullying and childhood obesity, while men are more likely to support the Tea Party movement.
- Women, however, are significantly more likely than men to get involved by donating clothing and other personal items, and volunteering their time in support of causes.
The study also found that women were more likely than men to support a cause through the purchase of a company's services or product that supports that same cause. This phenomenon is known as cause marketing, and marketers have begun to worry about this method of marketing backfiring. Separate studies have found that people who participate in cause marketing tend to balance that action by refraining from donating time or money.
However, the results of the Georgetown University study contradict the negative consequences of cause marketing. It found that both genders most often support their causes by donating money and talking to others. It's just that women are more likely to volunteer at an event.
As someone who is actively involved in human rights, I'd prefer to have people spend their time than spend their money. Money doesn't usually purchase a political prisoner's freedom.
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