A recent report ranked Alabama as the seventh-worst state in women’s equality.
WalletHub, a personal finance website, compared all 50 states across 17 metrics, including work hours gap, unemployment rate gap and executive positions gap, to determine where women receive the most equal treatment.
Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for women. Each state’s weighted average was measured across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to determine the state’s rank.
The report ranked Alabama 48th in workplace environment, 26th in education and health and 37th in political empowerment.
Maine was ranked as the best state for women, while Utah came in last on the list.
WalletHub released a separate report earlier this year, comparing the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 24 key metrics of living standards for women to identify the best and worst states for women.
The data set used in the report ranged from median earnings for female workers to women’s preventive health care to female homicide rate.
Minnesota was ranked as the best state for women, with Louisiana in last on the list.
Alabama ranked 47th out of states and the District of Columbia, ranking 47th in women’s economic and social well-being and 46th in women’s health and safety.
On women’s poverty, Alabama ranked among the five states with the highest percentage of women living in poverty, followed by Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico and Mississippi.
Alabama also ranked among the five states with the lowest high school graduation rate for women, followed by New Mexico, Georgia, Mississippi and Nevada.
In nearly every state legislature, the report showed that male lawmakers outnumber their female counterparts. Alabama’s state legislature is nearly 85 percent male. Out of 35 members in the Alabama Senate, only four members are women. In the Alabama House of Representatives, women make up 18 out of the House’s 105 members.
