SALT LAKE CITY – Utah has been ranked as the state with the worst gender equality by WalletHub.
Although the article was published on August 19, 2024, this problem is nothing new. The Beehive State has held this rank for a decade.
Although groups like A Bolder Way Forward and Utah Women Run are working hard to promote female leadership in the state, it is a very slow process.
“If we continue at the current pace, it will take three to four decades before we make any significant progress,” said Susan Madsen, director of the Utah Women in Leadership Project at Utah State University.
The WalletHub Women’s Equality Study is based on the following gap measurement metrics:
- income
- Management positions
- Working hours
- Educational qualification
- Political representation.
The Utah Women in Leadership Project and Zion’s Bank commissioned their own study several years ago, based on the same standards, to ensure Utah is adequately represented.
They came to the same conclusion: Utah has the least equality for women in the country. Madsen believes Utah’s religious and conservative background has a lot to do with that.
“When people say, ‘Men should do this, women should do that,’ there tends to be more power dynamics. In the state of Utah, men have significantly more power than women. And that affects pretty much everything,” Madsen said.
Educational inequality
There is still great potential for growth in education in Utah, even at a young age.
The gap between boys’ and girls’ math scores in eighth grade is the largest in the country. Madsen attributes this to social norms and messages.
“Research shows that girls don’t feel comfortable in math or are told that girls shouldn’t be good at math. There are smart girls in the state of Utah. It’s not biology, it’s not genes, it’s socialization. When girls and young women don’t feel comfortable or feel like they shouldn’t be good at math, it affects the subjects they take in high school, their major in college, and the subjects they study later,” Madsen said.
Jobs in STEM subjects are often among the best-paid professions and are predominantly dominated by men.
Organizations like SheTech are working hard to expose young women in Utah to STEM fields, but Utah has other educational gaps as well.
“By far the largest gap between men and women – no other state has it even close – is in college graduation,” Madsen said.
Utah men graduate above the national average in college education, while Utah women graduate below the national average.
