Massachusetts is the best state for women, new report suggests
The report ranked states based on their scores in two categories: economic/social well-being and health care/safety.
March is Women’s History Month, and in Massachusetts there’s plenty of reason to celebrate.
According to a new report from WalletHub, the Bay State is the best place for women to live — good news for the majority of the state’s residents, more than half of whom are female according to Census data.
The report ranked the 50 states and Washington, D.C., based on their scores in two categories: women’s economic/social well-being and women’s health care/safety.
Massachusetts nabbed the top spot in the health/safety category, with the lowest rate of women who are uninsured, the best preventative health care for women, and the third-highest quality women’s hospitals.
The state also ranked high in women’s life expectancy at birth (sixth) and female high school graduation rate (eighth), and it boasted the third-lowest female homicide rate and 10th-lowest share of women in poverty.
Several other New England states ranked high on the list, including Vermont (No. 6), Rhode Island (No. 10), Connecticut (No. 11), and Maine (No. 12). New Hampshire made it into the top half of women-friendly states, ranking 21st overall.
Although it’s good news for some, there are still significant gender disparities across the country, the report noted. Despite making up 51 percent of the U.S. population, only 24 U.S. Senators and roughly 28 percent of U.S. representatives are women. They also make up one-third of all minimum-wage workers and have been leaving the workforce at a faster rate than men during the pandemic.
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