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In Utah, Women Live In Poverty More Than Men, Study Says

womenadvancenc.org

According to a research write-up out of Utah Valley University, the gender-wage gap in Utah is one of the highest in the nation.

Susan Madsen is the co-author of a Utah Women Stats research write-up on women and poverty in Utah that says 11.3 percent of Utahns are living in poverty.

“It affects women more than men," Madsen said. "Women live in poverty more than men and there’s a lot of reasons for that.”

She says some of those reasons include a gender-wage gap, occupational segregation and differences between men and women in education.   

“We, if you compare Utah women at the Bachelor’s degree level and higher - compare Utah women to the nation - we’re about 10 percent below in terms of women graduating," Madsen said.

That education gap leads to many women working in low-wage jobs. Utah has similar statistics of women working lower-wage jobs compared to the nation.

Madsen has founded several statewide projects - The Utah Women and Education Initiative and The Utah Women and Leadership Project. She said working on compiling research on Utah women is part of her goal to, “help more girls and women find their voices and confidence."