Gender and Age breakdown of our polling: More questions than answers
Posted by DannyRCS - 18/08/09 at 05:08 pmThe gender and age breakdowns of our polling results have just arrived in my inbox. They can be found here and make for some interesting reading.
Perhaps unsurprisingly older generations in Canada think the organisation is a more valuable to their country than young people (43% versus 27%).
But this trend is not repeated in Australia (57% to 62%), Malaysia (49% to 61%) or South Africa (37% to 43%) where young people are much more enthusiastic about the significance of the Commonwealth. This is potentially good news for the Commonwealth because it shows that support for the association is not just found amongst the older generation. Since our polls only ask relatively simple questions, its hard to know why younger folk in these countries (but not the others) are more supportive of the Commonwealth. Any suggestions welcome.
However, more worryingly, young people in all our polls showed more ignorance of activities undertaken by the Commonwealth. Not such good news.
Intriguingly, women seem to view the Commonwealth as more important than their male counterparts.
When asked which region or world grouping they thought most important to their country, 27% of Australian women responded ‘the Commonwealth’ compared with only 18% of men. The same was seen in India (47% to 33%) and Malaysia (41% to 24%).
These gender differences seem sizable. The Commonwealth markets itself as an association of equals, the Games are ‘friendly’ and the Secretariat certainly doesn’t have the macho bombast of say NATO. Maybe these stats are a representation of this.
I wonder if these variables between countries are down to latent perception of the Commonwealth or particular work the organisation is doing?
Are young Malaysian’s generally more engaged with world affairs than their parents? And are lots of Indian women looking forward to the 2010 Delhi Games? As with most poll results we are left with more questions than answers.
Category : Connecting with Young People, Director's Blog
Tags: age, Australia, Canada, gender, Jamaica, poll, women, young people, youth
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September 3rd, 2009 at 7:06 pm
One reason that more young people in Australia and South Africa–and probably New Zealand and Britain too–are more interested in the Commonwealth, than older people, is the sporting connection and the Commonwealth Games. The above named countries are huge sporting nations in many sports.
Canada is more restricted in this field partly due to its climate.
Be this as it may, are the young people more interested in the ‘significance’ of the Commmonwelth or the sporting–and other links?
It is interesting that 61% of young Malaysians are interested in the Commonwealth. I would be interested to know why. Can we find out as this may be useful information in future promotion of studies of the Commonwealth.