Why Is Utah the Worst State for Women?

Female earnings in Utah were 67% of those for men, the second-worst ratio in the country. The percentage of women who held management jobs was 33%, the third lowest among all states.

In its analysis, 24/7 Wall St. concluded:

Utah is the worst state in the nation for women. While men in Utah tend to earn more than men nationwide, women in the state earn less than women nationwide. The difference of $16,586 between male and female median earnings in the state is the second largest in the country. The near nation-leading pay gap in Utah may be partly due to job discrimination. Women hold less than one in three management jobs in the state compared to the national share of nearly 40%. And of the 104 seats in the legislature, female politicians occupy just 16. While the state is not especially favorable for female residents, its economy is quite strong. The state’s unemployment rate of 3.9% — 3.7% among women and 4.0% among men — is the fourth lowest in the nation.

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The review was based on the following:

To determine the worst states for women, 24/7 Wall St. developed a methodology based on the Center for American Progress’ 2013 report, “The State of Women in America.” In its second year, our report utilized the same methodology as last year, making state rankings, and state improvements or declines relative to the 2014 report, directly comparable.

We divided a range of variables into three major categories: economy, leadership, and health. Unless otherwise noted, all data are for 2014. Data in the economy category came from the U.S. Census Bureau and included male and female median earnings for full-time work as well as high school and bachelor’s educational attainment rates. The percent of children enrolled in state pre-kindergarten and state spending per child enrolled in pre-kindergarten came from the National Institute for Early Education Research.

The leadership category included data on the percent of women in management occupations from the Census. It also included the share of state and federal legislators who are women from the National Conference of State Legislatures and the U.S. House of Representatives Archives, respectively. From the National Governors Association, we also looked at states that currently have female governors. Data on political representation are current as of this writing.

The health section incorporated Census data on the percent of women who were uninsured. Female life expectancy came from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Additionally, we looked at infant mortality rates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as maternal mortality rates from the National Women’s Law Center. State policies relating to maternity leave, sick days, and time off came from the National Partnership for Women and Families. Data on a state’s decision to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act came from the Department of Health and Human Services.

State rankings on each of these measures were averaged to determine a score for each category. Possible scores ranged from 1 (best) to 50 (worst). The three category scores were averaged to create an indexed value that furnished our final ranking.

It a long list of criteria for Utah to fail across so many.

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