When it comes to women’s equality, Alabama has some room for improvement. In Wallethub’s latest study, titled “2016’s Best & Worst States for Women’s Equality,” Alabama wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t close to being the best either. The Yellowhammer State ranked number 35 of 50 overall.
Analysts looked at three key metrics in order to determine rank: workplace environment, education, and political empowerment.
In terms of workplace environment, Alabama ranked 41st. One reason for this low ranking is the major disparity between men and women in executive positions. Another reason is the gap in number of minimum-wage workers, especially when compared to the number of entrepreneurs by gender.
Three-quarters of women across the country do not believe that men and women are paid equally, and they’re right. The U.S. as a whole has a large wage gap, with women being paid only 79 cents for every dollar a man makes. In fact, the U.S. is not even among the top 20 most gender-equal countries in the world. However, as Wallethub’s survey demonstrates, the pay gap is more defined in some parts of the country than others, and Alabama is among the 10 worst states for workplace equality.
In stark contrast, Alabama ranked number four in terms of education, indicating that the state has a relatively small educational attainment disparity among Bachelor’s degree holders. Despite the other disheartening results, Alabama can consider this ranking a significant achievement.
When it comes to political empowerment, though, Alabama once again ranked in the bottom half, coming in at 37th. Political empowerment is an essential step towards gender equality, because without a political voice, women will continue to struggle in the other two categories.
“Unfortunately, women still have too few voices in government to help them achieve full social and economic equality in the near future,” stated the Wallethub report.