Women are heavy purchasers of fuel and most say they are willing to buy alternative fuels, but a recent survey indicates they need more information to make that choice at the pump.

The survey was conducted by sending 9,000 emails to women readers of magazines published by Meredith Corporation, which includes some of the oldest and most popular, such as Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies Home Journal and Family Circle.

Marketing and sales manager Jana Rieker with Successful Farming magazine presented the results of the survey at the recent Fuel Ethanol Workshop.

“The important thing is that if we don’t pay attention to the female audience, we will be missing out on an opportunity to really grow ethanol demand,” said Rieker. “The research we conducted through Meredith Consumer Insights has shown that the key factors important to women are based on environmental factors and opportunities for reducing dependence on foreign oil.”

In fact, the survey found that 90 percent of women felt that less reliance on foreign oil was an important reason for them personally to buy or use renewable fuels and 85 percent said protecting the environment was an important reason.

Rieker says women in general are directly or indirectly responsible for about 95 percent of consumer household purchases and they buy about 21 gallons per week on fuel.

“If you think about who does the driving to daycare or to school or to after school activities, the mom is the one who does most of the driving,” Rieker said.

That’s why Rieker says making choices that benefit the future for their children is important to women. “Because ethanol does burn cleaner, when women make a choice for ethanol they benefit their children and their future.”