Disparities Still Exist for Women in Minnesota-Three Reasons For Gap

Among women of color, the disparities are more extreme, with some
making 56 cents for every dollar earned by a white man

St. Paul, Minn.

Women's Foundation of Minnesota and The University of Minnesota's Center on Women and Public Policy released research today that states, Minnesota women on average are paid $11 dollars less each year than men with the same jobs.

*The gap exists in every occupation, including those dominated by women

THREE REASONS FOR GAP

Lee Roper-Batker, the president of the Women's Foundation of Minnesota, said economists site three reasons for the income gap. She said women often choose careers that pay less and employers sometimes punish women who take time off to have children. "And the third thing economists say is just unexplainable," she said. "We don't know to attribute the wage gap to so we just call that good old fashioned sexism." The report said Minnesota women are clustered in low-wage jobs.

MOST HOMELESS ARE WOMEN AND CHILDREN

Families headed by single women are most likely to live under the poverty line. On an average night, women and children make up two-thirds of the state's homeless population.

That statistic is played out every day, said Liz Kuoppala, the executive director of the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless. She works in northern Minnesota, on the Iron Range. "We talk to homeless women in rural areas who are staying up in a tent," she said. "Up in my part of the state, they climb down steep embankments to mine dumps where there's access to water."

DANGER OF ASSAULT

The research shows girls and women also live in danger of assault. It said one in every three women in Minnesota will be the victim of sexual or physical assault by middle age.

According to the Women's Foundation of Minnesota, that adds up to 250,000 women at any given time, a population that could fill the Metrodome four times. "It has become so normalized that many of our young girls believe it is inevitable," said Suzanne Koepplinger, executive director of the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center in Minneapolis.

Indian women have the highest rate of sexual assault in the state -- 42 percent of Indian women are victims. "I heard a story about an elder giving instructions to working with young girls and she said don't tell them if they're raped this is what they should do, tell them when they're raped, this is what they should do," she said.

POOR HEALTH

The study also found women and girls in Minnesota have poorer health than men and boys.
Girls are less likely to be physically active than boys. Forty-eight percent of 12th grade girls participate in sports, compared to fifty-nine percent of boys. A majority of the state's women are now considered obese or overweight and women in northeastern Minnesota have disproportionately high cancer rates.


Links:

Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center
http://www.miwrc.org/

University of Minnesota's Center of Women and Public Policy
http://www.hhh.umn.edu/centers/wpp/

Women's Foundation of Minnesota
http://www.wfmn.org/

Minnesota Coalition of the Homeless
http://www.mnhomelesscoalition.org/

Minnesota Public Radio
http://minnesota.publicradio.org

World Pulse
http://www.worldpulse.com/node/22009