Facts

Business: Despite representing more than half of professional-level jobs, women’s leadership within the boardrooms of America has stagnated in recent years. Among the Fortune 500, women lead only 4.6 percent of companies. Investing in women’s talent and nurturing women’s self-confidence are two methods for fostering greater opportunities for women to move up the leadership ranks (not to mention reaping the benefits of women’s perspectives). (1)

Politics: The 2012 election cycle proved significant for women; they bolstered their political representation in Congress to an all-time high. Yet there’s still not even one woman for every five men in Congress. (1)

Health: Those who say the fight for women’s rights is over need only look at these two numbers: In the past year alone, more than 468 bills related to restricting women’s health and access to reproductive rights have been introduced in state legislatures. Shockingly, zero restrictions regarding men’s bodies have been brought to the floors of statehouses. (4)

Race: The pay gap affects women of all backgrounds, but unsurprisingly, race and ethnicity matter when it comes to women’s paychecks. Hispanic and Latina women face the worst disparity, getting paid only 54 percent of what white men get paid. (1)

College: Partly due to the shame, stigma, and fear associated with reporting a sexual assault, more than half of sexual assaults since 2009 went unreported. The likelihood of reporting is even lower on college campuses. The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act seeks to reconcile this problem by requiring colleges and universities to create transparent prevention programs that deter violence while encouraging more victims to come forward. (5)

Global: So much for America being a leader in feminist progress. In its most recent Global Gender Gap Report, the World Economic Forum ranked the United States 60th among 136 countries for women’s political empowerment. The ranking places the United States behind India, China, and Uganda for women’s equality in political leadership. (3)

USA Child: A child witnessed violence in 22% (nearly 1 in 4) of intimate partner violence cases filed in state courts. (2)

USA Adult: Nearly 3 in 10 women (29%) and 1 in 10 men (10%) in the US have experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by a partner and report a related impact on their functioning.(5)

​References:
(1) SOURCE: American Association of University Women
(2) SOURCE: http://www.annalsofepidemiology.org/article/S1047-2797(12)00024-5/abstract
(3) SOURCE: The Global Gender Gap Report 2013
(4) SOURCE: http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/updates/2014/statetrends22014.html
(5) SOURCE: http://www.dvrc-or.org

Stay Updated

Subscribe to the Pink Purse mailing list and receive the latest updates!