As the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, celebrates its centennial, and Women's Equality Day approaches (on Aug. 26), financial website WalletHub has released the results of its latest study, which looks at the best and worst states in America for women's equality in 2020.
Some fast study-framing facts from WalletHub:
- In 2020, the U.S. failed to place in the top 10 — or even the top 50 — of the World Economic Forum’s ranking of 153 countries based on gender equality. (We ranked 51.)
- Women make up more than 50 percent of the population, but constitute only around 24 percent of legislators and 25 percent of Fortune 500 board seats.
- Since the onset of COVID-19, women have been laid off at a greater rate than men, and are also getting re-employed more slowly. In addition, the share of the workforce that is female is now at its lowest point since 2008.
So what about state-specifics?
The study looked at 17 metrics in these categories: Workplace Environment, Education & Health and Political Empowerment. Those metrics included income disparity, disparity in advanced educational attainment, disparity in share of lawmakers in U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, disparity in share of executive positions and more.
In Ohio, we ranked No. 42 out of 50, making us the ninth worst state in America in terms of gender equality. The only place we excelled was in having one of the top smallest educational attainment gaps among advanced degree holders; however, we were among the bottom rung for for having the largest political representation gap in the nation.
The best state in America for gender equality is Hawaii, followed by Maine and Nevada in second and third place, respectively. The worst state for women in terms of equality is Utah.
You can see the full results and methodology at wallethub.com.
