HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS Op Ed: …A report last month from the Center for American Progress offered some alarming statistics about the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the way it treats the six million or so women who live here, assigning us a “C-” grade, and ranking our state 28th of the 50 states on women’s rights.
“Pennsylvania stands out as one of the states that is among the worst in the nation for women. Across 36 factors of economic security, leadership, and health, Pennsylvania ranks 28th in the nation for how women are faring,” the report reads. “This illustrates the long path ahead before women in Pennsylvania can get a fair shot at achieving economic security, reaching success, and living a healthy life.”
It goes from bad to worse in the report, whether it’s the fact that we scored a “D+” on economic factors for women (e.g., the 76 cents we still make to every dollar a man makes or the fact that 15 perrcent of us live in poverty); a “D” in leadership (our entire Congressional delegation contains one lone woman, and we hold less than 37 percent of the managerial positions in the state despite being 52 percent of the population); or a “C” in health (there is only one OB/GYN for approximately every 20,000 women in the state; we have the 12th highest infant mortality rate in the country and our lawmakers are making it as difficult as possible for women to get reproductive health care)… (more)
