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NEW YORK - Ask women why they carry almost everything but the kitchen sink in their handbag and the answer is unanimous - to be prepared - even though most purses are dirty, disorganised pits.
A study of 100 American women and their purses by consumer strategist Kelley
Styring found all respondents said the main purpose of carrying a handbag was to be prepared for things that might happen which made them feel secure and confident.
This was also reflected in the size of a woman's bag with younger women using smaller, pretty handbags, women aged 35-44 who may have children using far larger bags, and older women with less family returning to smaller, more stylish purses.
"Women get a kick out of being prepared. A handbag makes her feel emotionally and physically prepared and feeds her self esteem," Styring told Reuters.
The study, detailed in a book In Your Purse: Archaeology of the American Handbag, found the average woman owns about 10 handbags but only uses two to three on a regular basis.
The average purse weighed 3.4 pounds (1.5 kgs) including its contents and contained 67 items.
"While women buy a lot of bags because they are pretty, the ones they use most are the functional ones," said Styring.
The most common items to find in a woman's bag included wallets, credit cards, store reward cards, pens, beauty and hair care products, identification and keys.
But 14 per cent of women carried some kind of weapon in their bag, usually knives.
Styring, whose study was conducted in shopping malls in Dallas, Texas, and Portland, Oregon, said she was surprised about the filth and disorganisation inside most handbags.
"We all know about the studies that found the bottoms of purses were so filthy that putting them on a counter was equivalent to putting a pair of shoes on that surface," said Styring, who runs market research consultancy InsightFarm.
"But inside is also quite filthy with loose tobacco and hairs getting into everything and accumulations of trash."
Styring said her study was designed to help show manufacturers ways in which they could improve the design and packaging of items for women's bags and the bags themselves.
"How many times does a woman's phone ring and she can't find it at the bottom of her bag. One woman had seven cigarette lighters in her bag and she could never find one," she said.
Styring said most women blamed themselves for the mess in their bags but could still not imagine going without a bag.
"Just the thought made more than half looked stricken. They said they couldn't imagine how bad it would be to be without a purse and would have to make their own," said Styring.
- REUTERS