A study has pegged Oklahoma as the fifth-worst state in the U.S. for women.
The website WalletHub considered two dozen indicators of women’s economic, social and physical wellbeing, ranging from Oklahoma’s share of women in poverty to women’s life expectancy at birth.
Oklahoma Women’s Coalition Executive Director Liz Charles said the state’s poor showing is not a surprise.
"We’ve been working with the knowledge that Oklahoma ranks dismally on almost every list when it comes to quality of life for women, whether that be access to health care, violence against women, and the wage gap and the fact that Oklahoma women make 73 cents for every dollar paid to a man — and it’s even worse, obviously, for women of color," Charles said.
Health indicators were a real weak spot for Oklahoma, with the state ranking 46th in women’s preventive care, 48th in women’s life expectancy and 50th in the female uninsured rate.
Charles said the easiest way to improve those rankings is to expand Medicaid.
"There’s one very obvious solution to this — and it isn’t the end-all, be-all — but it’s a necessary component of equitable health care and making sure those who need specialized care or even just regular, consistent, quality care the most are able to do so," Charles said.
One of Oklahoma’s best showings in the report was a No. 17 ranking for its women’s unemployment rate.
Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana were the only states the study considered worse for women than Oklahoma.
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Iowa, Maine and Colorado made up the top five.
