[At Table Co., Ltd.] [Survey of women in their 50s] There is no need for women to cook all their lives. The “retirement age for cooking” is spreading among women over 50.
*Attable Co., Ltd.*
Press release: August 27, 2024
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[Survey of women in their 50s] There is no need for women to cook all their lives. The “retirement age for cooking” is spreading among women over 50.
*More than 40% of women in their 50s and 65% of women over 55 want to reduce the frequency of their own cooking in the future. *
AtTable Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Ueda) provides consulting services to food supermarket chains, major general merchandise stores (GMS), and food and beverage manufacturers nationwide.
Kenji) is Career Mom Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tama City, Tokyo, Representative Director and President: Tsutsumi)
In collaboration with Kanae, we conducted a survey of 300 women aged 45 to 64 across the country regarding their awareness of the burden of cooking as they prepare for retirement.
[Survey overview]
Survey period: May 7th (Tuesday) to May 20th (Monday), 2024
Survey method: Internet survey
Survey target: Career Mom members
Number of valid responses: Number of valid responses: 300 (45 to 64 year old women) (nationwide)
* [Summary of survey results] *
* ・More than 70% of people cook breakfast and dinner “almost every day”. * * ・89% of people cook dinner “almost every day” or “more than 4 to 5 days a week.” *
* ・ Regarding the frequency of cooking in retirement, 41.3% overall said they would like to cook less, and 65% of those aged 50 and over said they would like to cook less. *
*
・Only 23% of respondents are aware of the phrase “retirement for cooking,” but 81% of those over 50 say they “know the term and its meaning, and have started taking measures regarding cooking and communicating with their partners.” As a result. *
* Q1. How often do you currently prepare each of the three meals per week? * More than 70% of respondents said they cook breakfast and dinner for their families and themselves.
On the other hand, since many of them are employed, less than half of them cook lunch. It seems that many people do this at their place of work or on the go.
*Q2. Regarding cooking for yourself, please select the answer that best describes your approach to cooking in retirement. *
Half of the respondents said they would like to cook as often and as often as they do now, but over 40% said they would like to cook less by themselves than they do now, and 65% of those over 50 said It seems that as they get older, they want to gradually reduce the number of times they cook for themselves.
*
Q3. In contrast to cooking by yourself, it is said that “retirement from cooking” means “moderating the tendency to make homemade food and eating out, taking out food, preparing side dishes, etc. to get and prepare the necessary nutrition.” Please select the option that most closely matches your opinion regarding the term “retirement age”. *
Regarding the term “cooking retirement age,” 77% of respondents said they had never heard the term before, while 77% of respondents said they were familiar with the term (“I know the term and its meaning, but I have not taken any specific action. 19.3% of respondents answered, “I’ve heard the term, but I don’t really know what it means,” indicating that the term “retirement to cook” has not yet become widespread.
Looking at the breakdown of people who know the term “retirement age for cooking,” 3.7% say “I know the word and its meaning, and have started taking measures regarding cooking and communicating with my partner.” 12.3% said, “I know the meaning of the word, but I haven’t taken any concrete action.” 7.0% said “I didn’t know much about it.”
On the other hand, looking at the breakdown by age, the percentage of people over the age of 50 who say they “know the words and their meanings, have started taking precautions regarding cooking, and are communicating with their partners” is significantly higher at 81%. In fact, in households where husbands or partners have retired or children have grown up, there seems to be a growing tendency to consider a “retirement age” in which the burden of cooking can be gradually reduced.
* 【summary】*
As the number of employed women in their 50s and older increases, women who live busy lives are starting to feel that housework such as cooking is not their sole responsibility. Additionally, there is a pervasive sense of unfairness that while men have time to retire and relax after quitting their jobs, women are forced to do domestic work at home. In particular, there are an increasing number of women in their late 50s who are finding it difficult to do housework such as cooking due to physical limitations, and the phrase “retirement to cook” seems to be gaining popularity.
In recent years, some people have had their partners cook for them, others have cooked at their own pace, purchased prepared foods or frozen foods, relied on delivery services, or even eaten out. The variety of cooking retirement options is increasing.
Many companies also see a business opportunity in making cooking and housework easier for women, and have actually started offering a variety of products and services that seem to be gaining support from women.
・Attribute characteristics of women around 50s
*1 Population ratio of Japanese women by generation
Employment rate for women aged 45 to 64 is 72.4%
Half of the children are between junior high school students and working adults, and just under half
Attable Co., Ltd.
At Table Co., Ltd. provides information on food trends, markets, consumer behavior and awareness surveys, dining table data, etc. Based on our unique “food marketing”, we solve the problems faced by supermarkets and food manufacturers.
We will help you resolve the issue. In order to guide retailers and food manufacturers in the direction of product development, promotion, etc., we conduct monthly surveys of the lifestyles and mindsets of 5,000 housewives across the country. We research and analyze the “now” and “real” of housewives. In response to demographic statistics showing that women over 50 have become more than half of the total female population, we are focusing on women in their 50s as a new purchasing group that will likely lead the market in the future. We conducted an awareness survey regarding trends among women in their 50s and around.
URL: https://www.attable.co.jp
Adult Women’s Research Institute (commonly known as Obaken)
At Table Co., Ltd. supports the Adult Women’s Research Institute, a network of women in the 50+ generation. At the Adult Women’s Research Institute, we share information about the daily happenings, worries, and interests of adult women in their 50+ generation.
We distribute through various media such as Facebook groups, audio media, YouTube, etc.
▶︎Audio media: Obaken
Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/jp/podcast/oba-ken/id1621279016
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/5W8mVfy8iwJsRJRWMtsOLO stand.fm https://stand.fm/episodes/6370de7dd5750cbcb666daf2
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@oba3lab
Career Mom Co., Ltd.
Operates a community site for women who want to work in their own way, such as working from home or starting a business
(http://www.c-mam.co.jp/
). The number of members is currently 110,000. We promote flexible working styles in terms of time and location so that employees can continue their careers regardless of changes in life stages such as childcare or nursing care. We are creating opportunities for women to play an active role in BPO business that handles a large amount of task work (such as inputting and calling) and creative work such as writing and design. Currently, we are contracted by local governments and government agencies to operate work-from-home employment support, education and training projects, and business start-up support projects, helping many women re-enter the workforce. We are also releasing the results of a survey that collects the real opinions of housewives who often go shopping and manage household finances ( https://www.c-mam.co.jp/shufu-labo/research/ ).