Life is harder for Oklahoma women than women in any other state, new report shows
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Women's health care, access to affordable child care, and fair pay are all worse in Oklahoma than across the U.S. a new report unveiled Thursday revealed.
United WE (United Women's Empowerment), a non-partisan nonprofit organization, and the Spears School of Business at OSU held a virtual press conference Thursday to share the findings of initial research on the Status of Women in Oklahoma.
According to the report, Oklahoma ranked 51st in terms of best states for women's equality.
Oklahoma also ranked low in both economic, social well-being, healthcare and safety for women.
Pay & Workforce
The gender pay gap is worse in Oklahoma than the national average.
Oklahoma women earned an average of 74.5 cents for every dollar earned by men. The U.S. average is 80.8 cents.
Women of color earn even less: Hispanic women earn 50 cents for every dollar earned by men. Black women earn 58 cents for every dollar earned by men.
According to the study, if those statistics stay on the same path, Oklahoma women will not receive gender earnings parity until 2076.
Approximately 6 in 10 minimum wage earners in Oklahoma are women. Only 56% of Oklahoma women participate in the labor force compared to the national average of 59%.
Healthcare & Childcare
Between 2015 and 2019, Oklahoma women without health insurance increased.
In 2022 alone, Oklahoma had the second highest number of uninsured women in the U.S.
Access to affordable childcare in Oklahoma is hard to come by as well.
In 2018, 55% of Oklahomans live in a childcare "desert". A childcare desert means having 50 children in an area that either have no access to childcare facilities or so few facilities that the ratio of children to childcare centers is 3 to 1 (three times as many kids as there are licensed childcare facilities).
COVID-19 hit the childcare industry hard, leading to a sharp decline of licensed facilities in the state. The number of those facilities dropped to a low of 2,685.
In 2021, those numbers increased more than 10 percent to 2,964, but that is still fewer childcare facilities in the state than in 2019.
The cost for childcare is higher in Oklahoma than most states.
State subsidies reimburse childcare providers for about 60% of the true cost of providing care. Federally, the recommended rate is 75%. Since the number is so low, that pushes a lot of the costs of childcare onto low-income families.
The annual childcare cost in Oklahoma for 2020 was $8,940 a year for an infant which equates to about $745 a month. That also equates to about 11.7% of a married couple's household income, or 39.6% of a single parent's income.
That's also more than annual in-state tuition for a 4-year public university, the report showed.
Poverty and Civic Engagement
Oklahoma women ages 25 to 64 have higher poverty rates than men in the state and women in the U.S. on average.
The average of women living in poverty is 18.4% in Oklahoma.
In terms of civic engagment, there's a bright spot for Oklahoma women.
In 2019, there was a record number of women elected to the state legislature.
Women won 23 of 101 seats in the House of Representatives and 9 of 48 seats in the Senate.
However, in 2021, women comprised 20.8% of the Oklahoma State Legislature compared to the national average of 31%.
Recommendations on how to improve outcomes
United WE recommend a $550,000 investment in research and solutions that will happen over the next two years.
The main things they want to be accomplished over the next two years include establishing an Oklahoma Women's Economic Development Task Force, conducting statewide town halls, and conducting research on child care licensing requirements on a county-by-county and city-by-city basis.
United WE would also like to expand its "Appointments Project" from Oklahoma City.
The project aims to increase gender diversity on civic boards and commissions at the city, county and state levels.
The group is actively having conversations and seeking funding partners to execute this plan.
For more local news delivered straight to your inbox sign up for our daily newsletter by clicking here.