Study: Oklahoma 5th worst U.S. state for women

(The Center Square) – Oklahoma is among the worst states in the U.S. for women, ranking 47th in a new study by personal finance website Wallethub.

“Oklahoma is the fifth worst state for women,” Wallethub analyst Jill Gonzalez told The Center Square. “17% of the women in the state are living in poverty, and more than 18% of them cannot afford a doctor’s visit – the fifth largest percentage in the country. In addition, less than 58% of women voted in the 2016 presidential election.”

To come up with its rankings, Wallethub compared the 50 states and Washington D.C. across 26 metrics that measure living standards for women, including median earnings for female workers, women’s preventive health care and the female homicide rate.

One category where Oklahoma “ranks particularly low is the female uninsured rate, which is the second highest in the US at over 13%. … 77.5% of women in Oklahoma report being in good health, and the state ranks low for women’s preventive health care. Other areas where Oklahoma scored poorly include the second lowest share of physically active women – over 64%, and consequently a large percentage of women who are obese, more than 37%. To top it all off, the state has high depression and suicide rates for women, a high female homicide rate, a high prevalence of rape victimization among women, and women’s life expectancy at birth is the sixth lowest.”

Minnesota ranked as the top state for women, followed by Maine and Vermont.

At the bottom of the rankings is Mississippi, followed by Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

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