Here Are the Best, Worst States for Gender Equality

Maine is looking good for women's rights
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 20, 2019 11:20 AM CDT
Here Are the Best, Worst States for Gender Equality
Stock photo.   (Getty Images/jacoblund)

Despite making up more than half the US population, women are still lagging behind their male counterparts in pay and in leadership positions, and still claiming the lion's share of minimum-wage jobs. Some states are making better strides than others in closing the gender gap, per WalletHub, which looked at 17 metrics across three main areas: workplace environment, which includes income; health and education, which examined differences in advanced educational attainment and the affordability of doctor's visits; and political empowerment, which includes gender disparity in the makeup of state governmental bodies. States that ranked highest:

  1. Maine
  2. Hawaii (No. 1 in the "Education and Health" category)
  3. Nevada (No. 1 in the "Political Empowerment" category)
  4. New York
  5. New Mexico (No. 1 in the "Workplace Environment" category)
  6. West Virginia
  7. Minnesota
  8. Colorado
  9. Vermont
  10. Delaware
Read on for the states that could use some improvements.

States that fared the worst in the rankings:

  1. Utah
  2. Idaho
  3. Texas
  4. South Carolina
  5. Louisiana
  6. Virginia
  7. Alabama
  8. Missouri
  9. Oklahoma
  10. Kansas
Check out how other states ranked. (See the 10 best and worst states to give birth here.)

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