How does your state do on gender equality?
WalletHub compared metrics for men and women in 10 key areas, including number of lawmakers in state and federal government, pay, number of executives, unemployment rate, life expectancy, and educational attainment.
Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney and Jackie Speier hold a rally on the need to pass the Equal Rights Amendment near the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington in July, 2014.
Office of Representative Carolyn B. Malone/AP
How does your state stack up when it comes to gender equality?
In international rankings, American never fares particularly well – 23rd in the 2013 Global Gender Gap Index published by the World Economic Forum.
On Tuesday, just in time for Women's Equality Day (Aug. 26 is the 94th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote), WalletHub crunched statistics to see how various states measure up against each other.
To get the rankings, WalletHub compared metrics for men and women in 10 key areas, including number of lawmakers in state and federal government, pay, number of executives, unemployment rate, life expectancy, and educational attainment.
In the final rankings, states in the Northeast, Southwest, and upper Midwest seemed to fare best, with states in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plans lagging behind. Hawaii came out at No. 1, followed by New York, Maryland, Maine, and Nevada.
Indiana, Texas, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming took the last five places (Wyoming was 50th in the rankings).
The comparison also ranked states on key metrics, such as political representation gap (New Hampshire, Hawaii, and Washington have the smallest; Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wyoming have the largest) and pay gap (Arizona's is the smallest, Wyoming's is the largest).
While WalletHub ranked states, another organization is highlighting gender equality within companies.
Also on Tuesday, L'Oreal USA announced that it is the first US company to be certified for "workplace gender equality" by EDGE (Economic Dividends for Gender Equality), a three-year old company that so far has granted certification to a small handful of international companies, including the Switzerland divisions of Deloitte, IKEA, and Banco Compartamos Mexico.
It's still unclear how the certification might be used. It's unlikely to influence consumer behavior, and L'Oreal isn't planning to affix a seal to its products in any case.
But EDGE cofounder Aniela Unguresan told the Washington Post that she envisions the certification as one that companies can also use to promote themselves, and their gender-equity commitment, to both employees and investors.
"A lot of companies say 'we’re committed to this,'" Ms. Unguresan told the Post. "But increasingly there's a need to have a third party, independent party, saying their commitment is genuine."
To get the certification, EDGE assesses companies on things like company culture, flexibility, mentorship, recruitment and promotion, and equal pay for equal work, using both hard data and employee surveys.
“L’Oréal understands that gender equality is critical to our success across all areas of business and also gives us a competitive edge," said Angela Guy, L’Oréal USA's senior vice president for diversity and inclusion in a statement.