New York Named Among Best For Women’s Equality

Women won the right to vote almost a century ago after a long, arduous fight and the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Unfortunately, the gender gap in 21st century America continues to grow, according to a recent report from WalletHub.

The disparity in equality between men and women is especially seen in the workplace, where women are disproportionately underrepresented in leadership positions, and only make up 25 percent of lawmakers and less than 29 percent of business executives, according to the report.

For New York women, the state ranks 4th in the country on gender equality issues. WalletHub’s data set ranged from the income gap between men and women workers to the disparity in the share of lawmakers in state legislatures.

Maine ranked as the best state for women’s rights in the United States with a total score of 76.75, whereas Utah ranked as the worst with a score of 25.10 — 15 points below Idaho, the state in the 49th position.

States were given scores based on three measurements: workplace environment, education and health and political empowerment. Each of those was evaluated using 17 relevant metrics, which each had a corresponding point total.

Here’s how New York ranked in the three key dimensions:

• Workplace empowerment: 14
• Educational and health: 17
• Political empowerment: 5
• Total score: 65.68

Maine took home the top spot despite not finishing first in any of three measurement categories. New Mexico was the No. 1 ranked state for women in the workplace environment, Hawaii was No. 1 in education and health, and Nevada was No. 1 in political empowerment.

Here are the top 10 overall states for women’s equality in the country:

1. Maine
2. Hawaii
3. Nevada
4. New York
5. New Mexico
6. West Virginia
7. Minnesota
8. Colorado
9. Vermont
10. Delaware

Patch reporter Gus Saltonstall contributed to this report.