MINNEAPOLIS — It's been 104 years since the 19th Amendment was passed giving women in America the right to vote.
While there's been plenty of progress in the push for equality since then, gaps remain in many areas. Women, particularly women of color, still lag in income for the same amount of work, leadership roles and political representation, to name a few.
To gauge which states offer the best opportunities for women, personal finance website WalletHub compared all 50 states across three key dimensions - workplace environment, education and health, and political empowerment. Each of those dimensions was broken down into 17 separate metrics to determine where women have the most opportunity to live a life closest to the definition of equality.
When the numbers were calculated, Minnesota ranked 3rd-best, behind only Hawaii and California. The five states at the bottom of the list are Missouri, Idaho, Wyoming, Texas and Utah.
Here are some of the areas where Minnesota performed best.
Women’s Equality in Minnesota (1=Best; 25=Avg.):
- Overall Rank: 3rd
- 3rd – Earnings Gap
- 27th – Work Hours Gap
- 1st – Educational Attainment Gap (among Advanced Degree Holders)
- 21st – Minimum-Wage Workers Gap
- 1st – Unemployment Rate Gap
- 27th – Entrepreneurship Rate Gap
- 5th – Political Representation Gap
For Black, Indigenous and other women of color, the pay gap can increase. The University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs shared that Latina women make 57 cents and Black women make 62 cents for every dollar that men make.
Rounding out the top five best states for women's equality are Maine and New Mexico.
Here's what WalletHub researchers had to say about the lives of women in Minnesota.
Minnesota is the third-best state for women’s equality, with the third-lowest pay gap between men and women. All states have a gender pay gap, but in Minnesota, women’s median weekly earnings are only around 9% lower than men’s. While there’s still plenty of progress to be made, that gap is far better than the often-cited “70 cents on the dollar.”
When it comes to politics, Minnesota sends equal shares of men and women to the U.S. House of Representatives, and both of its senators are women, which increases the chances that women will have their voices heard in politics.
Finally, women in Minnesota only have a 0.2% worse unemployment rate than men, and there’s only about a 1.5% gap in the share of men and women who have advanced college degrees. This demonstrates that the state has equity in education and the job market.
For more on the "Best and Worst States for Equality" and how it was conducted, check out the WalletHub website.