New research conducted for Chatelaine suggests life might really begin at “40-ish” for Canadian women.
As part of its This is 40(ish) feature, the Rogers Media title surveyed 1,000 Canadian women 35-45 about everything from career, family, love, sex and body image to provide what it calls an “intimate glimpse” of women at this stage of life.
The findings are being presented in the magazine’s January issue, which debuted on newsstands and the Texture by Next Issue digital app last week. The report also coincides with a visual update to the women’s title.
“To best reflect the stories and content in Chatelaine, we’ve refreshed the font and photography throughout the magazine,” said publisher Penny Hicks in an email. “Readers will notice that our font has a more modern and clean look. Along with this, photography now conveys more storytelling.”
Chatelaine has created a dedicated online hub featuring the survey results (including those not included in the print package) and dedicated its Facebook and Twitter feeds to the topic on launch day (Dec. 3) using the #ThisIs40ish hashtag.
The magazine brand also invited users to ask questions about the findings and asked people to describe what 40ish looks and feels like by submitting “selfies” or tweets.
Among its key findings, the study by Abacus Data revealed three quarters of Canadian women surveyed are at least as happy as they were 10 years ago, with many (44%) saying they are happier and 31% saying they feel the same.
However, 61% of respondents also said they have experienced depression or anxiety, with 56% saying they have taken something for it. Just over one third of respondents (35%) said they have been in therapy.
Nearly three quarters of people surveyed (74%) were either married or in a common-law relationship, with 82% saying they were very (51%) or fairly satisfied (31%) with the relationship.
The respondents were an average age of 26.7 when they had their first child, with 62.7% saying it was the right time and 14% saying if they could do it again, they would wait longer.
More than half (54%) of respondents said they are making less money than they currently deserve, with 55% saying they make less than their partner. The results reflect a recent report from the World Economic Forum, which stated that it would take 118 years for the pay gap between men and women to close.
Among the study’s other findings:
- More than one third of women (39%) said they do not drink in a typical week, while 19% said they have one drink per week and 31% said they have between 2-5 drinks per week;
- 92% of respondents said they do not lie about their age;
- 73% of women said they don’t look good naked;
- 31% of women said they have sex less than once per month, while 24% said they have sex a few times each week;
The findings are based on an online survey of 1,000 women conducted between Sept. 2-7, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2% 19 times out of 20.
Marketing and MarketingMag.ca are also owned by Rogers.
