A Woman's Voice: 2004/05 Survey Findings

The San Luis Obispo County Commission on the Status of Women is an official advisory agent of the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors. Our charge is to be a voice that advocates equal rights and makes recommendations to enhance women's lives by conducting surveys and outreach programs. On August 14, 2004, at the Creative Day with Women at the Mission, the commission collected over 250 surveys regarding the status of women in San Luis Obispo County. The following are the findings and analysis of those surveys.
The survey collected information on the gender, residency, age, marital status, educational background, and income level of the respondents. The respondents were also asked to select from a list of issues relevant to women that they felt most important; what type of program or service they believed would be most beneficial; how they would like to hear about future programs and announcements; whether they support a Junior Commission and whether they would be willing to volunteer.
As for the demographic data--of the 262 respondents, 241 were female, 13 male and 8 gave no answer. Two hundred forty were residents of San Luis Obispo County, nine were part time residents, nine were visiting the area and two gave no indication. Nearly half the respondents (48%) were married followed by 23% each for 'single' and 'divorced'. Figure 1 of the attached shows complete breakdown for respondent marital status. Figure 2 gives the breakdown for educational background - over 85% had at least 'some college'. Over 70% of respondents were over the age of 40 with the largest single age group (51-60) accounting for 29% - see Figure 3 for the complete breakdown. Forty-seven percent of respondents earn between $20,000-$60,000 annually, while 16% earn less than $20,000 - see Figure 4 for the complete breakdown. Finally, Figure 5 shows the response by area, with San Luis Obispo accounting for a third of all responses, followed by South County and the North Coast. It should be noted that all surveys were collected in San Luis Obispo.

The first 'issues' question asked was, 'Pick the item most important to you', and respondents were asked to choose from a list of 14 issues relevant to women (see Question 7 of the attached survey). The complete breakdown for question 7 is given in Figure 6. Overall, the most important issues were 'economic justice', 'domestic violence', 'financial literacy', and 'girls' leadership'. These four choices accounted for 51% of all respondents.

This data was also analyzed by age group and by area. One significant, although not surprising, finding was that within the 61+ age group, 'elderly women's issues' tied for most important with 'economic justice', see Figure 7. The 'under 21' age group was not included in Figure 7 as there was insufficient data. Furthermore, Figure 7 also indicated some other trends in important issues - 'economic justice' becomes more important with age whereas 'financial literacy' shows the reverse trend.

Figure 8 also shows the important issues, but separated by area. Significantly, economic justice is almost twice as important as any other issue for residents of San Luis Obispo and 'changing systems through advocacy and public policy' only garnered a one percent response. Whereas in South County, advocacy and public policy was important to nine percent of respondents - a roughly equal response to the other six issues shown in Figure 8 with the exception of 'domestic violence' and 'elderly women's issues' which garnered relatively weak responses in South County. Due to small sampling, no conclusion can be made regarding issues important to North County.

Question 8 of the survey asked, 'What type of program/service could we provide to you that would be most beneficial to you?' Forty-six percent of respondents would like to see more speakers/conferences on women's issues, 21% want more practical workshops, 5% would like to see local commission meetings and 3% chose 'annual summit meeting' Figure 9.

When asked if they supported a Junior Commission in the community, 105 responded yes, 26 no, 95 did not know and 36 gave no response. In retrospect, the question probably should have been worded in the conditional tense to avoid any confusion, as the Junior Commission does not yet exist.

Lastly, with regard to preferred method of advertising, 33% prefer email or internet, 25% chose newspaper, and 28% chose either newsletter or flyer. See Figure 10 for the complete analysis.

Given the above analysis and the four most important issues identified by the survey, the Commission on the Status of Women would make several recommendations to the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors. First, with regard to 'economic injustice,' further study is required to understand this issue. The second most important issue was 'domestic violence.' There are programs in place to address this issue. One new program in development is looking at preventive ways to address Domestic Violence in our community, called the Delta Program. The Domestic Violence Task force Team is involved in that program. We recommend your continued support of this grant program and for all proactive, preventive and supportive programs that the county has that address domestic violence. A third important issue is financial literacy. Just this past October, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) held a themed conference on 'financial literacy' which was a tremendous success. Those who attended left informed, inspired and filled with the tools required to help themselves move to another level of economic justice and financial stability. The CSW recommends that the Board provide support, financial and otherwise, for future similar conferences with the goal of educating the entire community. The fourth most important issue identified was 'girls'/young women's leadership/career planning.' The CSW is advocating for a Junior Commissioners Project - a program designed to assist young women in developing valuable leadership skills and to learn about public policy issues that affect young women. The CSW would recommend that the Board provide their full support for this invaluable program.

Finally, with regard to this and future surveys, the CSW recommends further support for more extensive survey that better measure the needs of all San Luis Obispo county residents. In the future, the CSW would like to conduct surveys using the County's Pursues Survey Software. This program would allow for more extensive surveys and far more detailed data analysis. It would also provide for easy tracking of data over time and therefore allow the CSW and the Board of Supervisors better to assess the effectiveness of various programs.