Teenage and young adult women are learning to prepare themselves for a changing social structure. For teens, this means focusing on career now. For young women, this means not expecting to be married until the late twenties, at least.

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Barna Group’s work explored several aspects of the so-called gender gap, especially among young women. The conclusion: young women are more likely than ever to feel they must get educated, find a job, and be ready for life – with or without marriage. More than ever before, young women are preparing themselves to live independently.

For example, one of the fascinating Barna findings from the year was the fact that teen girls aspire to most of the same careers as teen-aged boys. As expected, young women exhibit traditional preferences for teaching, fashion, interior design, and nursing. But teen females are more likely than teen males to aspire to work in journalism, business, and law. And teen girls are equally likely to be interested in the military, arts and music, public safety including law enforcement and firefighting, and government.

Another surprising fact about the changing views of young women is that only 1% of teen girls explicitly identifies “domestic work” or “homemaking” as their future occupational choice. Most of these young women still expect to raise families, but just anticipate doing so later in life. This corresponds to a recent article by a Barna researcher describing that the demographics of twentysomethings have shifted from young, married couples to “digitally connected urban tribes.” In the past, the conventional life path for twentysomething women included marriage and childbearing. But that is no longer the typical outcome for today’s young women. This gives churches and workplaces a more educated, upwardly mobile – and less marriage-oriented – cohort of young women.

Additionally, in 2011 Barna Group explored some of the emotional and psychological burdens that weigh down today’s Americans, including young women. In total, more than 70 million adults in this nation feel as though their past decisions and life events have limited their current prospects. The manner in which the next generation of women finds their full potential will influence much of the health and vitality of the nation over the next several decades.

Year in Review: Barna Trends

Changing Role of Christianity		Downsized American Dreams		Millennials Rethink Christianity
The Digital Family		Maximizing Spiritual Change		Women Making it Alone