WOW Does She Do It??
A Sixty-hour working week, juggled with home, family, social and romantic commitments-‘WOW’ does she do it?A new survey has highlighted the advent of a new social group the WOW generation - this stands for Women Organising the World. These are high achieving, non compromising women. They grow up expecting to have a well rounded life (career, love, family) but won't compromise for it. That involves juggling at a micro level - living in time slots and mastering multi tasking. She needs the world around her to work as hard as she does.
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If the 20th century was a man’s world, the future will have a seriously feminine touch - forecasts an LSE report commissioned by Persil on their quest for innovation. The impact of this new generation will be so great that companies around the globe are having to re think their consumer offerings. The Persil ‘Women’s World’ research identified a newly emerging high impact social group - The WOW Generation (“Women Organising the World”). These high achievers are driving a social transformation seeing more women organising and running the world – and demanding products to suit their lives accordingly.
Women now make up 46% of the UK’s workforce, with women among the one in six now working a 60 hours week. But at home the bulk of domestic labour is carried out by women with 88% of women do all the family’s laundry. They work hard, play hard and have increasingly high expectations of work, relationships, family life and of the products and services they need to make their lifestyles viable. The WOW Generation are highly efficient and constantly mobile, her evolution is spearheading a social revolution, which is led by the size and contents of her handbag.
These WOW women live by ‘the handbag rules’ demanding smaller, better, faster and more efficient products that help them as they live life ‘on the move’. And it is no wonder that fashion trends are dictating that handbags are getting bigger, as women are literally living their whole lives from the contents of their bags.
Typically aged 30 – 50 and first and foremost ambitious and career-minded, the WOW woman also wants to look good and find time for quality family life. High profile women of the WOW generation include: author/cook Tana Ramsay, football chief executive Karren Brady, Linda ‘LK’ Bennett and White Company founder Chrissie Rucker.
Report author, Dr Rosalind Gill comments, “This is a growing group, highly symbolically significant, which will become crucially important for the future of British society.”
Persil Small & Mighty spokesperson, Zoe Hayward, “As an industry first, Persil has reacted to the demands of the growing WOW generation, with a Small & Mighty product that fits into their lifestyle and their handbag.”
The World of the WOW GenerationWork: “Intensifying and Extending”
The number of women in employment has been constantly increasing since the mid-80s, with 70% of women now working; and women now representing nearly half (46%) of the British workforce. This means 75% of British households are now dual income. What’s more, one in six people now work over 60 hours a week – a figure that is only set to rise, in part, perhaps, because many women are still forced to work longer hours to earn the same as men.
Academics have identified the ‘intensification’ and ‘extensification’ of professional workloads for the WOW Generation. Intensification being long hours and greater intensity/productivity within working time. Extensification being the way it spills over into areas of life that were previously work free – sometimes because this allows women to better juggle the responsibilities they take on.
Home: “The Second Shift”
Despite their increased entry into the workplace and increased working hours, modern women still face inequality at home – undertaking 88% of laundry tasks and managing ‘the lion’s share’ of “emotional labour”, from planning meals to liaising with schools and arranging children’s social arrangements.
This means modern women still work a “second shift” in the home, often ‘on call’ 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To cope, these upwardly mobile women demand domestic products that are as highly functioning as themselves.
Constantly Juggling: “Everything a matter of organisation”
Unsurprisingly, time pressures are paramount for the WOW Generation. Time is ‘to be made’ not spent. These women have developed creative coping and time management strategies to cope with the boundless demands they face. Women are more likely than men to be performing a number of domestic tasks simultaneously and any experience of ‘free time’ is in short burst, rather than blocks. It’s also something that involves considerable anticipation. Keen not to reduce the time spent with their children, mothers instead ‘squeeze’ their personal time, work in fragmented slots and get things done ‘on-the-go’, ‘checking emails whilst pushing their children on the swings’ or taking works calls when in a restaurant with friends and family. Meanwhile, to the WOW woman, public transport, for example, presents a chance for a ‘minute vacation’ – a brief spurt of leisure time.
What the WOW demands: “Perform as highly as I do”
The WOW woman demands products and services that fit in with and aid her busy life. From online banking, to self-service check out lines, to quality convenience foods and ‘handbag-sized’ magazines, they demand performance, functionality and convenience. Literally, she wants to be able to live life ‘out of her handbag’ and ‘on the run’.
Technology plays a major role – and, in fact, women now spend three times as much on technology products as beauty items. Emails, mobile phones and PDAs all contribute to the way the WOW Generation fits the multitude of activities and responsibilities into her every waking hour. Not just a work tool, technology also represents a social tool – enabling her to keep track of children, making social arrangements during ‘down’ periods and complete family errands.
This is only set to continue, as whilst the emerging WOW woman is hot on the heels of men in terms of technology consumption, the next generation of WOW women (13 – 18 year olds) already make more use of these products than their male peers.
The future: “The WOW Generation will play a crucial role”
Dr Gill’s report concludes this group of educated, professional women in full-time employment (and often juggling motherhood alongside work and social commitments) are the forerunners of a major trend for the next decades. All evidence suggest the future will see ever more women entering the labour force, occupying a significant proportion of new jobs and returning to work sooner after childbirth. This will mean the first ‘micro generation’ of innovating WOW Women will increasingly demand products and services that combine functionality, design, convenience and performance that fit in with their need for fine-tuned planning, co-ordination, efficiency – and, ultimately, that can be bought, carried or used ‘on the go’.
Persil Background
 “Persil Small & Mighty” – The best ever liquid brought to you from Persil. A laundry breakthrough, offering brilliant cleaning power in a small, more convenient pack. The UK’s first 2x concentrated liquid, “Persil Small & Mighty” offers greater efficiency (1 cap, 1 wash), easier handling, carrying and storage, better fragrance and reduced environmental impact. In short, a small cap but mighty results. “Persil Small & Mighty” will be available from March. Variants: Persil Bio, Persil Aloe Vera, Persil with Freshness of Comfort, Persil Non-Bio, Persil Colour –
History of Persil innovation – First-launched in 1909, and the UK’s best-loved laundry brand, Persil has a history of innovation, including being the first laundry brand to introduce ‘tablets’. Victoria Beckham once said her aim was to become as famous as Persil.
The Worldwide WOW
The global political landscape is altering as women take a frontline role shaping the future. The WOW’s impact cannot be underestimated:, e.g.
Hilary Clinton, once First Lady, now vying to be the first female US President
Nancy Pelosi (appointed the first female speaker of the US House of Representatives)
Condoleeza Rice
The appointment of female presidents by Chile, Ireland and Germany in the last two years
The Handbag Rules – smaller & better
Recognising the importance of the WOW Generation, “Persil Small & Mighty” is part of a new generation of product advances that address the WOW woman’s needs by delivering smaller products, which, crucially, offer better performance:
Handbag sized magazines - many magazines have gone from A4 – to handbag-sized)
Mini technology - from ghetto-blaster to ipod shuffle
Multi functioning communication devices - from home phone to mobile office
This major piece of research was commissioned by Persil Small & Mighty and carried out by the London School of Economics between Feb 06 to Feb 07.
April 2007
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