Study: Women are world’s largest emerging market

MANILA, Philippines — The greater the power of women, the greater is a country’s economic success.

That has been among the results of “Female Tribes,” a proprietary insight study on women around the world conducted by multinational agency J. Walter Thompson (JWT) Global.

In the 2016 global study, 4,300 women between the ages of 18 and 70 were polled on their views concerning money, career, religion, sex, and other relevant topics. The participants came from the United States, China, United Kingdom, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Russia, India, Australia and South Africa.

The research states that 77 percent of women surveyed take pride of being a provider, 73 percent make financial decisions at home, while 54 percent are their families’ main breadwinners.

The study estimates that women’s incomes are expected to rise from $13 trillion in 2013 to $18 trillion in 2018.

In the Philippines, JWT’s local counterpart conducted a similar study, “Filipina Next,” based on quantitative and qualitative research among Filipinas across socio-economic classes ABCDE and between the ages of 18 to 70. 

According to “Filipina Next,” 80 percent of Filipinas identify themselves as the main household purchaser, while 73 percent say they make the majority of financial decisions at home. These, JWT Philippines explains in a statement, could be due to Filipinas’ traditional role of controlling the family’s purse strings; their shifting role of earning more than what their husbands make; or choosing to work while their better half manages the home. Whatever it is, women are clearly on top of money matters.