March is Women’s History Month. To call attention the status of women, GO Topeka hosted its Third Annual Woman’s Forum (Part I) at the Capital Plaza.
Wendy Doyle, president of the Women’s Foundation and coordinator the Topeka Women’s Project, kicked off the 2017 Women’s Forum by sharing results from a study about women throughout the state of Kansas. Doyle provided insight from a research study commissioned by the Women’s Foundation, conducted by the University of Kansas, under five categories:
Education
Women have higher educational attainment than men across the U.S., and women in Kansas have higher educational attainment than in Missouri.
Female educational attainment in Kansas City is roughly in the middle of that found in other Midwestern metropolitan areas.
Employment and Income
Women in Kansas who work full-time, year-round earn an average of only 79 cents for every dollar of male earnings
Kansas has significantly fewer women working in management compared to the rest of the U.S and are more likely to work as secretaries and administrative assistances, registered nurses or elementary and middle school teachers.
Childcare
In Kansas, childcare costs are 31 percent of the female median earnings. Some counties have very few child care options; Elk and Wallace counties in Kansas each have only one licensed child care facility.
Health
In 2014, 14.11% of working age women in Kansas had not acquired health insurance. 30.19% of working age women in Kansas—living in households with income 200% below of the poverty level have no health insurance.
Leadership
Although women make up 50.7% of Kansas’s population they comprise only 24.8% of the general assembly.
To view the full study and results go to www.womens-foundation.org/research.