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Title: The Well-Being of Women in Utah: An Overview

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2014

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Abstract: The well-being of women is integral to the economic vitality and overall health of Utah. Nearly one million women live in the state; when they thrive, so do their families and communities. Initiatives in Utah to strengthen women's overall well-being must address complex realities. On the one hand, Utah's women have made significant progress in recent decades. They are active in the workforce, make important economic contributions to their families and communities, have experienced a narrowing of the gender wage gap, and are more likely to have a college degree than two decades ago. On the other hand, Utah's women face persistent challenges. They continue to earn less than men-even when their educational levels are higher. They are also more likely than men to be poor and to experience intimate partner violence. In addition, women in Utah, as in the United States overall, are underrepresented in political leadership and face racial and ethnic disparities. 1 These challenges must be addressed for the state as a whole to thrive. This briefing paper provides an overview of how women in Utah fare in key dimensions of their lives: earnings, education, and economic security; physical and emotional health and safety; and political leadership and participation. While it lies beyond the scope of the paper to address other key aspects of women's overall well-being-such as faith and spirituality, family and friendships, civic and community involvement, and sports and fitness-the data provided here identify important areas of progress and challenges for Utah women and suggest policy directions that would benefit the state as a whole. Utah Women and Work: Strong Labor Force Participation, Large Gender Wage Gap Women have made great strides in Utah's workforce in recent decades. Although women's labor force participation rate did not increase between 1995 (when it was 61.2 percent; IWPR 1998) and 2012 (when it was 61.6 percent; Appendix Table A), the population and workforce of Utah have become more educated and more likely to work in professional and managerial occupations (IWPR 1998; Appendix Table A). On the whole, women's labor force participation in Utah is relatively strong: Utah ranks 17 th in the nation for its female labor force participation rate and has a higher share of women in the workforce than the nation overall (58.8 percent). Like the nation as a whole, however, women's labor force participation rate in Utah is much lower than men's (76.1 percent; Appendix Table A). In Utah, as in all states in the nation, women who work full-time, year-round earn less than men. In 2012, median annual earnings for Utah women were $33,100 compared with $48,000 for men (Appendix Table A). Among the largest racial and ethnic groups, earnings vary considerably. Non-Hispanic white women and men in 2009-2011 had the highest median earnings ($32,525 for women and $48,787 for men), followed by non-Hispanic minority women and men ($28,298 for women and $34,105 for men). Hispanic women and men had the lowest median earnings ($23,276 and $29,000; Appendix Table B and IWPR 2014a).

Url: https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/wpallimport/files/iwpr-export/publications/R379.pdf

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Authors: Hess, Cynthia; Williams, Claudia

Publisher: IWPR

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Gender, Health

Countries: United States