Alex Bruce-Smith Shares Her Candid Thoughts On Are Media's Research Project HERFuture

What did you take away from the HERFuture forecast?

That the world is finally changing for single people.

Being single in your 30s can sometimes feel like doing life on hard mode. Not only does everyone view you as having this huge project you haven’t started yet (“Are you on the apps?”), but you are ultimately responsible for everything in your life.

There’s no one to pick up the pieces after a hard day or bring their strengths to balance out your weakness. To add insult to injury, it is unfairly expensive to be single. Do you know what really helps the cost of living crisis? Sharing the rent/mortgage, splitting Ubers, and having multiple accounts for streaming services without technically breaking the rules.

Thank God the world is adapting to the growing number of women rethinking marriage, babies, and even living with a partner.

Almost half (49 per cent) of respondents said they don’t feel pressure from society to ‘live a certain way’, while 30 per cent said they plan to remain child-free.

Travel, beauty and hospitality are set to be reframed over the next few years with single people in mind — it can’t come soon enough.

While the HERFuture forecast can be confronting, the pay gap rages on. What did you find most heartening?

Definitely that 84 per cent of people said living in a diverse and inclusive society is important to them.

It can sometimes feel like we live in a world resistant to championing true diversity and inclusivity, whether that’s by welcoming trans women into sporting arenas or promoting women of colour to senior leadership roles.

We have a long way to go in achieving an inclusive society. It’s heartening to know most people are on board to get there.

What surprised you the most about the findings in the HERFuture research?

The connection between women’s empowerment and the metaverse. I’m deeply sceptical of NFTs and crypto, but Web3 is in our future. How we create that future in an equal way will be an interesting one to watch.

The HERFuture research highlighted how the pandemic impacted women. What were your key takeaways?

I remember seeing an American news outlet tweet in 2021 about the devastating job losses caused by the pandemic. It took a female journalist to point out that a woman lost every single job the outlet was referring to.

We’ve known about the gender pay gap for almost as long as some people in power (read: male CEOs and C-suits execs) have protested that it doesn’t exist.

How can women earn less than men when THEY pay the single senior woman on their team the same as her male colleagues?

The HERFuture research highlighted just how devastating the pandemic was for women’s participation in the economy: 8% of women lost their jobs in April 2020, compared with 4% of men.

And when it came time for the previous government to reach deep into pockets for economy-stimulating packages, where did it go? The male-dominated construction industry, to the tune of $688 million.

To view the findings from the HERFuture forecast, enquire here.