March marks Women’s History Month, and though times have changed, there’s still a lot of work to be done when it comes to women’s rights — as evidenced, clearly, by the women’s marches and #MeToo movements that have been spreading around the country.
Women in the United States are still fighting for higher wages and reproductive rights, as well as working their way into politics and business-owner positions, but is there anywhere that’s really female-friendly?
Massachusetts is the second-best state for women, according to a new report from WalletHub.
To see how women fare around the country, WalletHub looked at two main factors for all 50 states: women’s economic and social well-being, and women’s health and safety.
Under that first category, the study included information on the median earnings for female workers (adjusted to each state’s cost of living), the female unemployment rate, the percent of women-owned businesses and more.
For health and safety, stats on the number of uninsured women, women’s life expectancy at birth and female homicide rates were included.
Massachusetts ranked second overall, coming behind Minnesota in terms of the general “best” state for women.
When it came to economic factors, Massachusetts made it to the top 10 for a few factors. The Bay State ranked eighth for lowest overall unemployment among women (at 3.3 percent), eighth in terms of the female high school graduation rate (which is 90.8 percent) and ninth for the lowest share of women in poverty (at 12.5 percent).
Massachusetts is at the middle of the pack when it comes to how many women-owned businesses are here though, coming in at No. 28 (Alaska has the highest percentage of women-owned businesses, according to WalletHub.)
When it came to health and safety, Massachusetts — known as a hub in the medical world — excelled. It took the No. 1 spot for having both the lowest percent of uninsured women and the best preventative healthcare, which factored in what percent of the female population were up-to-date on things like cervical and breast cancer screenings.
Massachusetts also ranked in the top five for women’s life expectancy at birth.
Massachusetts is a blue state, and that may have contributed to its high score. Blue states were found to be more female-friendly, according to the study, with an average rank of 15 out of all 50 states, while red states averaged a rank of 33.
Louisiana — the 11th most Republican state in the country, according to FiveThirtyEight — ranked as the worst state for women in this report.
