Majority of US women believe gun violence, cost of health care are 'big' problems: Poll
Health care and gender discrimination are among the key issues women in American society are concerned about, a new poll found.
The poll, conducted by National Geographic and market research firm Ipsos, interviewed 1,014 women ages 18 and older between Sept. 26 and Oct. 2.
The issues the majority of women considered a "big problem" included the cost of health care (77%), gun violence (67%), violent crime (59%) and access to quality health care (53%).
A significant amount of women also said they believe terrorism (50%), racial discrimination (46%), sexual harassment (42%) and affordable childcare (40%) are "big" problems in American society, according to the results.
When asked which issues they believe is the "biggest problem facing women today," 38% answered balancing family and a career, 24% said pay discrimination and 20% said harassment and unfair treatment.
Of the women polled, 40% said they have experienced discrimination or have been treated unfairly because of their gender. A majority of those surveyed -- 69% -- said they do not consider themselves to be feminists.
The poll also surveyed women on whether they believe a variety of jobs offer a better or worse opportunity for them to advance as they do for men. The "better for women" category included jobs in nursing (58%) and public school teaching (46%,) but the "worse for women" category included the U.S. military (62%), politicians (59%) an professional athletes (58%).
The majority of women polled believe that positions such as scientists, doctors, small business owners, finance and banking, computer programming and professors offered the same opportunity for women as for men, according to the results.
Out of the women surveyed, 82% were registered to vote and 52% said they would prefer a "bigger government providing more services."
The results of the study have a sampling error of 3.3 points, including the design effect. It was conducted in both English and Spanish, and the data was weighted to adjust for age, race, education, Census region, metropolitan status, household income, language proficiency and party identification. The party identification benchmarks are from recent ABC News/Washington Post telephone polls, according to the results.
