Texas ranks second-worst for women’s equality in new study

Texas ranked second-to-last in a new study analyzing all 50 U.S. states for women’s equality. The findings were released Monday ahead of Women’s Equality Day on August 26. 

The study, conducted by financial site WalletHub, analyzed each state by using 17 weighted metrics, including disparities between men and women in job security, healthcare access, poverty rates and advanced educational attainment.

Texas ranked slightly better than average on the earnings gap, work hours gap and entrepreneurship gap. However, it fell behind in political representation and unemployment rate.

The Lone Star State’s most damning score, however, came in the Health & Education, where it ranked second-to-last. But since Texas women are more educated than Texas men, it’s easy to zero in on health as the reason Texas ranked so low in the combined score.

Texas has the nation’s highest rate of uninsured residents, and recent reports suggest women’s health access has suffered since the state implemented an almost total ban on abortion care.

In a separate study released last month by the Commonwealth Fund, Texas ranked second-to-last for women’s healthcare. Factors that contributed to the ranking included a lack of access to healthcare services and one of the highest rates of maternal mortality. The only state that performed worse overall in the Commonwealth Fund study was Mississippi.

According to WalletHub’s findings, the only state that ranks worse for women’s equality overall is Utah, which landed dead last in both the Workplace Environment and the Health & Education categories.

The top five states overall for women’s equality are Hawaii, California, Minnesota, Maine and New Mexico, according to the WalletHub analysis.

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This article appears in Best of San Antonio 2024.