PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – March marks the start of Women’s History Month, but in some parts of America, women are still facing significant disadvantages compared to men.
According to the National Women’s Law Center, women represent more than two in three minimum wage workers in the United States, and in seven states, they make up three-quarters of minimum wage workers
Women also hold fewer political positions than men. Although women make up 51% of the population, they only hold around a quarter of the seats in Congress.
WalletHub, a personal finance website, took a closer look at how women are treated in each state in a new study and found Washington state ranked among the best.
Analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across two key dimensions for the study: women’s economic and social well-being, and women’s health care and safety.
Within those dimensions, they examined 25 key dimensions and graded each state on each. The dimensions were each given a certain number of points. If a state received a perfect score, it would receive 100 points.
Some of the dimensions include things like median earnings for all female workers, unemployment rate for women, high school graduation rate for women, share of women who voted in the 2020 election, abortion policies and practices, baby-friendliness, and female homicide rate.
When the scores were totaled, Washington state ranked seventh with a score of 68.13. The state ranked eighth in women’s economic and social well-being and 12th for women’s health care and safety.
Below is the list of the top 10 best states for women, according to WalletHub.
- Vermont
- New York
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Connecticut
- District of Columbia
- Washington
- Rhode Island
- Hawaii
- New Jersey
One area where Washington ranked particularly high was women’s life expectancy at birth.
Researchers found that blue states are more women-friendly than red states. The blue and red states were determined based on how they voted in the 2020 presidential election.
Joyce Jacobsen, an Andrews professor of economics at Wesleyan University, said some states had taken greater strides than others when it comes to advocating for public policies that improve living conditions for women.
She said many states have chosen to move ahead on their own on topics the federal policy has stalled.
“For example, New York state has had paid family leave since 2016 and as of January 1, this year has expanded paid family leave to cover leave to care for siblings with a serious health condition,” Jacobson said.
On WalletHub’s list of the best states for women, Oregon ranked 17th.
Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma ranked the lowest.