CLEVELAND — A new report by The Center for Community Solutions, a nonpartisan think tank, takes a look at how women in our state are doing compared to their male counterparts, on things like health, economic status and education.
Researchers took a look at all 88 counties in Ohio. There were key findings that stood out for 18 counties in the Northeast Ohio region.
- Geauga County: lowest teen pregnancy rates
- Cuyahoga County: higher teen birth rates, but women showed improvement when it comes to premature births. The report mentioned how health and educational groups focusing on pre-natal made a difference.
In 17 counties except Huron, 87% or more of women have health insurance. Despite this, the study pointed out a concerning trend when it comes to cancer.
"We have health indicators like cervical cancer and unfortunately we saw, and this is late diagnosis of cervical cancer, and we saw unfortunately a real similar story across the state in that over 50 percent of the cases in most counties they are being diagnosed late even though we know that we can test and treat for those cancers,” said Melissa Friedman, The Center for Community Solutions.
Ashland, Carroll, Geauga, Holmes, and Wayne counties do not have access to safety net health care centers that offer care to all residents, including those uninsured.
For careers, Portage County has one of the highest rates of female-elected officials at 40%.
However, when it comes to getting paid for those careers, the gender gap persists‑ and it’s a large one. Women earn 59 cents for every dollar a man makes in Monroe County to 86 cents for every dollar in Pike county.
When it came to who earns the money in household, women in Cuyahoga County stood out significantly.
“We had a very high proportion of female-headed households compared to the rest of the state,” said Friedman. And when you consider female-headed households they're more likely, you know twice to 3 times as likely to be living in poverty than male-headed households. So it's a place that we can look at where women need additional support potentially.”
Find the report for each county here.
