In a year that has forced people around the world to take stock and reevaluate, School Road Publishing, New Zealand’s
newest independent magazine house, surveyed 750 Kiwi women aged between 35-74 for a major piece of research titled New Zealand Women in the Post-COVID World.
“As a new magazine publisher, whose primary target audience is female, naturally we were keen to hear from Kiwi women
about how the events of this pivotal year have affected them and whether their priorities have changed,” says Sido
Kitchin, Group Publisher of School Road Publishing and Editor of Woman.
“Of the 11,000 New Zealanders who lost their jobs as an immediate result of the pandemic, 10,000 were women. Every woman
in New Zealand has been affected by the global pandemic this year in some way and understanding their feelings and needs
has helped shape the vision for the four new magazine brands we are publishing.”
The study, conducted by InsightFull, found that nine out of 10 New Zealand women had new or changed priorities this
year.
“What is clear from the survey is that women have reevaluated what’s most important in life - particularly around
family, home, money, health and work. Women’s number one priority is the wellbeing of their family.”
The key themes that survey participants revealed were:Relationships - the importance of interpersonal connection and spending quality time with family members and friends;Health - focusing on lifestyle changes to improve emotional and physical wellbeing;Money - budgeting, reducing debt and saving were some of the key financial goals identified;Home - 80 percent of participants said their home has become their sanctuary and place of safety with renovating and
landscaping among their priorities for the future;Work - more than half of survey respondents said their work was negatively impacted by COVID-19.
In considering how their thinking and daily life may have changed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic:-86 percent of survey participants said that health and wellbeing is more important than ever;85 percent said there is nowhere they’d rather live than New Zealand;and 81 percent stated they were more grateful now for what they have.
Kitchin says, “What’s apparent is that we can’t speak to women through our magazine brands in the same way we did a year
ago because their world has changed. Our new magazines Woman, Haven, Thrive and Scout will acknowledge this and resonate with where Kiwi women are at today.”
Magazine readership remains strong with the survey revealing that 81 percent of New Zealand women read a print magazine
in the last six months and 59 percent read magazine content or articles online within the same period.
When it comes to buying and reading magazines, 20 percent of those in the study are magazine subscribers and almost half
of all respondents (46%) regularly or occasionally buy magazines from the supermarket or dairy.