Back in November, BostInno had the opportunity to chat with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The first thing we have her on record saying is “Too many women today bear unjust and unequal financial burdens simply because of outdated policies that limit women’s full participation in our economy.” The Bay State is helping lead the charge in terms of workforce equality, earning the distinction of being the ninth best state in the country for working moms.
Happy early Mother’s Day, Massachusetts! As it turns out, you score tremendously well in terms of three overall metric categories determined by online financial resource site Wallet Hub. Few major urban areas in the country hold a candle next to the commonwealth’s inclination for impartiality when measured by child care, professional opportunities and work-life balance.
Wallet Hub ranked each state using those nine datasets that were organized into the three organizational themes, previously mentioned. They were then able to aggregate each state’s weighted metric to rank them from most appealing for a woman to work in to least.
As you can tell by the color-coded map, not every region of the country is following in the steps of Massachusetts and if they are, they’re plodding along. As Wallet Hub writes, “Progress, it would seem, is taking shape at different rates across the country.”
Massachusetts ranked highest in terms of child care, taking the number four overall slot. It pulled down decent marks in terms of professional opportunities, 19th, and work-life balance, 15th. For the Bay State, the latter two principles can be improved upon by lobbying at the local and state governmental levels for a lifestyle that emphasizes segregation between work and home life, as well as for increased pay.
“The most basic offering would be to mandate paid sick dates for all employees, including working parents,” opined Jennifer Ownes, Director of Working Mother Research Institute in the study. “From there, I would say a mandate for paid family leave is a given.”
Some of the more intriguing results include female-to-male executive ratio, of which Alabama saw the most with 74.48 percent followed by Washington D.C. with 64.3 percent. As per the data, workplace equality between genders appears to be more focused on the West Coast and in New England, with little focus at all in areas like the Deep South including Alabama.
The data can also be interpreted in terms of political context. The Deep South states and many in the Southeast and Midwest tend to be more conservative leaning while, conversely, coastal locales are historically more liberal-minded. In that respect, one could agree that there’s a correlation between Republican states and the fact that they’re less woman-friendly in the workplace than the Democratic states.
But what do you think? Is Massachusetts truly a leader in this regard? Or does it still have to play catch up to more progressive states. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
