Women in the United States

Women in the United States
Gender Inequality Index
Value 0.203 (2015)[1]
Rank 43rd out of 159
Maternal mortality (per 100,000) 14 (2015)
Women in parliament 19.5% (2015)
Females over 25 with secondary education 95.4% (2015)
Women in labour force 56.0% (2015)
Global Gender Gap Index[2]
Value 0.722 (2016)
Rank 49th out of 144

This is about women in the United States today. For the history of women in the United States, please see History of women in the United States.

Laws

Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

The United States has never ratified the U.N.'s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, although it played an important role in drafting the treaty.[3][4] As of 2014, the United States is thus one of only seven nations which have not ratified it – also including Iran, Palau, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Tonga.[5]

Equal Rights Amendment

The United States has ratified the Equal Rights Amendment.[6]

Marriage

Child marriage, as defined by UNICEF, is observed in the United States. The UNICEF definition of child marriage includes couples who are formally married, or who live together as a sexually active couple in an informal union, with at least one member — usually the girl — being less than 18 years old. [7][8] The latter practice is more common in the United States, and it is officially called cohabitation. Laws regarding child marriage vary in the different states of the United States. Generally, children 16 and over may marry with parental consent, with the age of 18 being the minimum in all but two states to marry without parental consent. Those under 16 generally require a court order in addition to parental consent.[9]

Parental leave

The United States is the only high income country not to provide required paid parental leave.[10]

Reproductive rights

Birth control is legal nationwide as of 2014.[11][12] Abortion is legal nationwide as of 2014; however, states are allowed to place regulations on abortion which fall short of prohibition after the first trimester of pregnancy.[13][14]

Politics

The first woman elected to the United States House of Representatives was in 1917, Jeannette Rankin, she represented Montana. In 1978 the first woman was elected to the United States Senate. Women who served before her were finishing someone else's term who died in office or had resigned.[15]

Currently (August 2014), there are 79 female representatives in the United States, making up 18% of the U.S. House of Representatives.[16][17] There are also 20 female senators in the United States, making up 20% of the U.S. Senate.[17][18] There are currently 3 women in the United States presidential cabinet, including: Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, and Department of Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. As for women in positions that have the status of Cabinet-rank there are also 3 women: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy, United States Mission to the United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power, and Small Business Administration Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet.[19] Two of the three Deputy Chiefs of Staff are women, Anita Decker Breckenridge and Kristie Canegallo.[20] One of two Senior Advisors is also a woman, Valerie Jarrett.[20] The First Lady is Melania Trump and the Second Lady is Karen Pence.[21][22]

Rankings

Gender equality ranking

As of 2017, the United States is ranked 49th of 142 applicable countries in gender equality on the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index.[23]

Religion

The United States has freedom of religion as a constitutionally guaranteed right. Christianity claims the largest number of adherents.[24][25] Not all religious denominations ordain women, and a few (most notably Roman Catholicism) oppose artificial contraception.[26][27] Many oppose abortion.[28]

Statistics

Education

As of 2014, women in the United States earn more post-secondary (college and graduate school) degrees than men do.[29]

Marriage

As of 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available, average age at first marriage in the United States is 27 for women and 29 for men.[30]

Workforce

As of 2014, women are 46.5% of the total United States workforce.[31]

Sex discrimination has been outlawed in non-ministerial employment in the United States since 1964 nationwide; however, under a judicially created doctrine called the "ministerial exemption," religious organizations are immune from sex discrimination suits brought by "ministerial employees," a category that includes such religious roles as priests, imams or kosher supervisors.[32][33]

A woman's median salary in the United States has increased over time, although as of 2014 it is only 77% of man's median salary, a phenomenon often referred to as the Gender Pay Gap. (A woman's average salary is reported as 84% of a man's average salary.)[34][35] Whether this is due to discrimination is very hotly disputed, while economists and sociologists have provided evidence both supporting[36][37][38] and debunking[39][40] this assertion.

Violence

Violence against women has been recognized as a public health concern in the United States.[41] Culture in the country has promoted the trivialization women-directed violence, with media in the United States creating the appearance of violence against women unimportant to the public.[42]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Justice reports that about 1 in every 4 women suffer from at least one physical assault experience from a partner during adulthood.[43] About 20% of women in the United States have been victims of rape[44][45] with many incidents of rape being underreported according to a 2013 study.[46]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Table 5: Gender Inequality Index - Human Development Reports 2015". United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  2. ↑ "Global Gender Gap Report 2017 - Rankings". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  3. ↑ CNN, By Lisa Baldez, Special to. "U.S. drops the ball on women's rights - CNN". cnn.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  4. ↑ "cedaw2014.org – Just another WordPress site". cedaw2014.org. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  5. ↑ "cedaw2014.org – Just another WordPress site". cedaw2014.org. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  6. ↑ "ERA: Home". www.equalrightsamendment.org. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  7. ↑ Child Marriage UNICEF (2011)
  8. ↑ Child Marriage ICRW (2010)
  9. ↑ www.usmarriagelaws.com
  10. ↑ "In Paid Family Leave, U.S. Trails Most of the Globe". New York Times. February 22, 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  11. ↑ "Griswold v. Connecticut, The Impact of Legal Birth Control and the Challenges that Remain". Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Katharine Dexter McCormick Library. May 2000. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  12. ↑ Dunlap, Bridgette (March 22, 2013). "Eisenstadt v. Baird: The 41st Anniversary of Legal Contraception for Single People". RH Reality Check. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Roe v. Wade". Law.cornell.edu. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Abortion Rate in 1994 Hit a 20-Year Low". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. January 5, 1997. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Mississippi Is Sending Its First Woman To Congress. Here's When Your State Did That". National Public Radio. March 21, 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  16. ↑ "Current numbers - all levels of office". Cawp.rutgers.edu. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  17. 1 2 "Members of Congress Questions and Answers | The Center On Congress at Indiana University". Congress.indiana.edu. 1984-01-01. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  18. ↑ Terkel, Amanda (November 7, 2012). "Historic Number Of Women To Serve In Next Senate". Huffington Post.
  19. ↑ "The Cabinet | The White House". Whitehouse.gov. 2013-04-01. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  20. 1 2 "White House Staff | The White House". Whitehouse.gov. 2013-04-01. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  21. ↑ "First Lady Michelle Obama | The White House". Whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  22. ↑ "Dr. Jill Biden | The White House". Whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  23. ↑ "India Slides, US Gains in Gender Equality Ranking". ABC News.
  24. ↑ Wilson, Reid (4 June 2014). "The second-largest religion in each state". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  25. ↑ Staff, LII (5 February 2010). "First Amendment". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  26. ↑ "BBC - Religions - Christianity: Contraception". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  27. ↑ "Catholic Bishop: Woman 'Ordained' as Priest Is Automatically Excommunicated". CNS News. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  28. ↑ "Religious Groups' Official Positions on Abortion". pewforum.org. 16 January 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  29. ↑ "Mitch McConnell says more women graduate from college than men do". PolitiFact. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  30. ↑ Editors, The (2013-03-15). "Getting Married Later Is Great for College-Educated Women - Eleanor Barkhorn". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  31. ↑ "Aug 2014 Diversity Jobs Report: Women Make Up 46.5% of Workforce - WCC Blog". blog.womenscareerchannel.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  32. ↑ "Featured Document: The 19th Amendment". Archives.gov. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
  33. ↑ Caroline Mala Corbin (2007). "Above the Law? The Constitutionality of the Ministerial Exemption from Antidiscrimination Law". Fordham Law Review, Volume 75, Issue 4, Article 3. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  34. ↑ "Barack Obama, in State of the Union, says women make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns". politifact.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  35. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Laura (April 20, 2010). "Why Do Women Still Earn Less Than Men?". Time.
  36. ↑ Men and Women of the Corporation: New Edition. "Kanter, ''Men and Women of the Corporation'', Basic Books, 1977". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
  37. ↑ "Office of the White House, Council of Economic Advisors, 1998, IV. Discrimination". Clinton4.nara.gov. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
  38. ↑ "Levine, Report for Congress, "The Gender Gap and Pay Equity: Is Comparable Worth the Next Step?", Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 2003" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-07-20.
  39. ↑ Sommers, Christina Hoff (February 1, 2014). "No, Women DON'T Make Less Money than Men". The Daily Beast.
  40. ↑ Biggs, Andrew G., Perry, Mark J. (April 7, 2014). "The '77 Cents on the Dollar' Myth About Women's Pay". The Wall Street Journal.
  41. ↑ Wright, Paul J.; Tokunaga, Robert S. (May 2016). "Men's Objectifying Media Consumption, Objectification of Women, and Attitudes Supportive of Violence Against Women". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 45 (4): 955–964.
  42. ↑ Stankiewicz, Julie M.; Rosselli, Francine (2008). "Women as Sex Objects and Victims in Print Advertisements". Sex Roles. 58 (7–8): 579–589.
  43. ↑ The Violence Against Women Act of 2005, Summary of Provisions. National Network to End Domestic Violence. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  44. ↑ Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey. (PDF) . Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
  45. ↑ Kilpatrick, Dean G.; Resnick, Heidi S.; Ruggiero, Kenneth J.; Conoscenti, Lauren M.; McCauley, Jenna (July 2007). "Drug-facilitated, Incapacitated, and Forcible Rape: A National Study" (PDF). National Criminal Justice Reference Service. United States Department of Justice. pp. 43–45. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  46. ↑ National Research Council. Estimating the Incidence of Rape and Sexual Assault. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2013.
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