Odds & Trends

Some Things Women Are Less Likely to Do Than Men:

-- Flip channels during a TV program (17% of women do, 22% of men)

-- End a friendship should they discover the friend is homosexual (28% of young women would, 54% of men)

-- Be in a traffic accident (63% of all reported accidents involve male drivers)

-- Receive a pension (23% of women do, 46% of men)

-- Buy junk food (in 61% of households, men choose the snacks)

Some Things Women Are More Likely to Do Than Men:

-- Earn a bachelor's or master's degree (women earn 51.9% of these degrees)

. -- Buy a greeting card (women account for 90% of card purchases)

-- Take dictation (99% of all secretaries are women)

-- Vote in presidential elections (in 1988, 58.3% of eligible women voted, 56.4% of men)

-- Take vitamins (39% of women do, 27% of men)

I Do, for Now

-- An estimated one-half to two-thirds of women who married in the 1980s will divorce -- Couples who live together before getting married are more likely to divorce within 10 years than couples who don't -- More women (43%) than men (31%) approve of divorce for unhappily married couples with young children -- Fewer women (37%) than men (50%) say it is better to be married than to go through life single -- 40% of female high school seniors don't consider it very likely that they'll be married to the same person for life

Why Jane Fonda Is Rich

Twice as many women ages 30 to 64 as men think they are overweight. In one University of California study, 58% of 17-year-old girls said they were overweight; only 17% actually were.

They Don't Do Ovens

Husbands may be doing more of the dirty work at home -- 20% of the cooking, cleaning and laundry, up from 8% in 1965 -- but they have their limits. Take oven cleaning . . . please. The Roper Organization reports that this most widely disliked household chore is also one of the two chores least performed by men (the other is ironing).

WORKING STIFFED

$ You won't run into too many male RNs -- 94% are women -- but if you do, chances are he'll be smiling. He earns 10% more than female nurses. And the 2% of all construction workers who are women earn 25% less than male hardhats.

WHY WOMEN SKIP BREAKFAST

Dermatologist Paul Lazar of Northwestern University Medical School found that women use 17 to 21 grooming products every morning.

TAKING THE FIFTH

In an American Bar Association survey, 20% of female lawyers admitted to having at least six alcoholic drinks a day, compared with 11% of male lawyers. But who's making the full disclosure?

HAVE SON, WILL NOT TRAVEL

The parents of sons are less likely to separate or divorce than couples who have only daughters. The reason? University of Pennsylvania researchers say fathers are more involved with sons and concerned about providing a role model.

WARNING

THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH ON THE JOB FOR WOMEN IS HOMICIDE. OF WOMEN FATALLY HURT AT WORK FROM 1980 TO 1985, 42% WERE MURDERED, 64% BY GUN. AMONG MEN, ACCIDENTS ARE THE TOP OCCUPATIONAL KILLER; HOMICIDES ACCOUNT FOR JUST 12%.

[TMFONT 1 d #666666 d {Sources: Center for the American Woman and Politics, Rutgers University (1988 voting statistics); Rodale Press; Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.; Hallmark Cards Inc.; The Gallup Organization Inc.; Cosmopolitan/Battelle (I Do, for Now); Wider Opportunities for Women; Americans' Use of Time Project; Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press; Centers for Disease Control}]