Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE)

Women's Rights on a National Level: Worst versus Best States for Women to Reside

According to the Pew Research Institute in 2019, more women vote in United States election than men, and this difference has held since the 1990s. Consequently, women’s issues can be a critical element of a politician’s platform. For example, reproductive rights were heavily promoted in the November 2019 mid-term elections. Politics heavily influence the culture of a geographic region. News and social media contributors have recently attempted to identify pro-woman states, focusing on issues such as employment equality, equal rights, and women-friendly policies. The goal of this study was to examine different states using a range of variables that directly impact women, including: the number of abortion clinics, domestic violence incidents, life expectancy for women, graduation rates, and the income/wage gap. It was hypothesized that women-friendly states would cluster in the Northeast and the West Coast. Scores were standardized across variables and summed to create an overall score for each state. The highest possible score was 255. Results revealed that the most pro-women states were New York (202), Vermont (196), California (195), Connecticut (190), Massachusetts (181), Florida (180), Maryland (176), New Jersey (176), New Mexico (175), Iowa (171), and New Hampshire (170). The worst scoring states were Kentucky and Utah, both with scores of 54. The hypothesis about regional clustering was supported. In general, a larger number of northeastern states were represented among those most pro-woman, while a higher proportion of southeastern states were ranked as less woman-friendly.