Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Survey on Indian women surprises advertisers

By R. Sujatha

CHENNAI, APRIL 3. Some Indian advertisers thought they had mapped the mind of the Indian woman, particularly the future consumer, until they put together the results of their six-month survey.

Naresh Gupta, head of Consumer Insights and Planning of the advertising agency Grey Worldwide, who presented the findings of a survey on the lifestyle of women at a meeting organised by the Advertising Club here on Friday, said ``We did not expect to hear'' that unmarried Indian girls aged 19 to 24 would like to ``chill out and be independent'' and decide when and if they want children.

The agency surveyed 4,000 women across the country, `eve's dropped' at college canteens, shopping malls, movie halls and infested Internet chat rooms and spoke to beauticians, psychologists, journalists and counsellors and scrutinised matrimonial columns in newspapers.

The survey was done in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore besides nine `mini' metros such as Chandigarh and Lucknow. It surprised the researchers of the `Understand Women Better' study that the women wanted to live for today and thought that television serials did not portray women as they were, said Mr. Gupta. The women did not feel guilty about spending on themselves and many of them wanted to `freak out with no strings attached.'

Women want tonnes of money and will pull strings if necessary and will take up a job that pays even at the cost of education. They want to be in TV journalism, advertising, public relations or human resources but are not keen on becoming doctors or scientists. They will live with in-laws because it is convenient but believe they have an equal role in taking care of their parents too. They say their parents want them to be career women and believe that when it comes to marriage, their parents will consult them.

Quite a few women believe they can survive without marriage; some would ``kick out their in-laws if they interfered with their life.'' They love romances such as Titanic and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and want a husband who is sensitive, has a sense of humour and will share household chores, including cooking. They believe in trust.

Women in Chennai want to date but do not want to go to pubs. A few women here believe they can drink but their husbands cannot, Mr. Gupta pointed out.

Those surveyed said they would wear jeans to work and would not cover their head as a mark of respect to their elders. For women in smaller cities and towns, traditional beliefs are not important and they will not ignore subjects like divorce and infidelity. Women would buy mobile phones before a music system.

Obviously the audience had plenty of questions. How homogenous was the study, how did you frame the questions and were the girls who spoke on camera tutored? Were they all unmarried girls? Mr. Gupta said, ``They are our future consumers. They are different.''

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