Women of the Millennium Generation

New findings in Northwestern Mutual's ongoing "Millennium Generation Studies" provide a snapshot of America's young emerging leaders, those in their early to mid-20s. The latest survey continues to follow the first college class of the new millennium, the Class of 2001, and also profiles the most recent grads from the Class of 2004.

What's Different?

• Women see family issues like education and children as a big difference between themselves and their parents (36% of female grads and 29% of female post grads).
• They are more likely than men to continue their education after college (40% of female grads vs. 21% of male grads).
• Females are more likely to believe that growing up faster and lack of innocence are particular disadvantages of their generation.

Salary/Finances

• Women still expect to earn less than men. Only 19% of women expect a salary of $40,000 vs. 35% of men.
• They admit they're not as knowledgeable about investing and financial planning as men (70% for women vs. 50% for men).
• Women are more risk averse than men when it comes to the chance for a larger financial gain.

Spirituality and Self

• Belief in God is more prevalent among women than men. (76% women, vs. 65% men for grads, and 80% women to 65% men for post grads).
• Women are more likely to be happy with their lives, but feel that the decay of morals/values and nation's economic challenges are bigger disadvantages for them (67% of female grads and 64% female post grads vs. 54% male grads and 45% male post grads).
• They feel that it's important to have a job that allows them to help others, have idealistic/committed co-workers, and flexible working hours.
• Women spend more time volunteering than men (61% female grads vs. 45% female post grads, 44% male grads vs. 39% post grad men).

The Millennium Generation: The Fifth Study was conducted online by Harris Interactive among 1,016 members of the Class of 2001 and a total of 722 members of the Class of 2004 nationally from March 23 to April 5, 2004. An additional 2,016 interviews were conducted online between April 15 and 19, 2004 with a nationally representative cross section of American adults (aged 18 and over) to provide a point of comparison for certain questions. Figures for gender, race, region and propensity to be online were weighted to adjust them to their actual proportions in the population. In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points (for the Class of 2004 sample), 3.1 percentage points (for the Class of 2001 sample) and 2.1 percentage points for the (general population sample) of what they would be if each of those populations nationwide had been polled with complete accuracy. This online sample was not a probability sample.