New Report Grades States on Women’s Health, Most Get C’s

The Institute for Women's Policy Research released its third biennial national Status of Women in the States report, measuring how American women fare in the arenas of politics, economics, health, education, and reproductive rights. The report assigned each state five respective grades, and although there exist wide differences between the states, the majority of states earned C's. "American women are on a slow and uneven road to equality," IWPR President Heidi Hartmann said during a press conference, adding, "Some states are stuck in a rut, while a few are building superhighways." Nine indicators were used to determine women's health status in each state, including heart disease mortality, breast cancer mortality, lung cancer mortality, frequency of diabetes, incidence of AIDS and chlamydia, poor mental health, suicide and mean days of activity limitations, with wide variation among regions reported. Overall, the Mountain and northern Midwestern regions ranked well for the health of women, while Southeastern states ranked poorly. Women in Hawaii enjoy the best health nationally, with the state falling among the top five on nearly half of the health and well-being indicators and receiving an overall grade of A-. Conversely, New York placed in the bottom five states on four of the nine indicators, sharing an F with Kentucky. Heart disease mortality is twice as high for women