Each year on August 26th, we celebrate Women’s Equality Day to commemorate the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920. This historic amendment prohibited states from denying the right to vote based on gender—a monumental step forward in the fight for equality.
But more than a century later, I find myself asking: Are we truly equal? And if not, what metrics will tell us when we’ve achieved equality?
When I examine our state’s population, women make up 51% of the population, yet nowhere do we hold the majority of the power.
First, we should understand what the population of women in Georgia looks like, as laid out by KFF.
Power
What is power? According to Oxford Languages, power as a noun means:
- the ability to do something or act in a particular way, especially as a faculty or quality.
“the power of speech”
- the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events.
“she had me under her power”
The origin of the word began with the Latin word “posse,” which means to ‘be able.’
Let’s explore what women are able to do equal to their male counterparts in Georgia.
Do women in Georgia have equal access to economic security and opportunities to build wealth?
It is widely known that women earn less than men, and women of color earn less than white women. In Georgia, women earn approximately 82 cents for every dollar earned by men, and this gap widens when considering race and ethnicity. Women’s earnings in Georgia as a percentage of men’s earnings dropped 4.2% between 2021 and 2022. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2022, women working full-time in Georgia earned $891 per week while their male counterparts earned $1,087.
Georgians also start from less than equal pay compared to the rest of the country. The state’s hourly minimum wage is $5.15, and the living wage gap is $10.47—the highest wage gap in the U.S. . A former GBPI team member, Dr. Alex Camardelle, wrote about this in 2019, exposing a wider gap for Georgia women who are losing a combined total of $14 billion a year and thus have less money to support their families and invest for the future.
Access to wealth can also vary depending on whether a woman lives in urban or rural parts of Georgia. Urban areas like Atlanta offer more job opportunities and higher wages but also come with a higher cost of living. Rural areas may have lower costs but fewer high-paying job opportunities. Access to resources, banking, investment opportunities, and homeownership can significantly impact a woman’s ability to build wealth.
13% of females ages 18-64 living in Georgia in 2022 were living below the poverty level, defined as a family of three living on $23,556, according to KFF. To live at 200% of the poverty level for a family of three only means earning $49,720 for the same family of three. There were 969,383 women ages 18-64 below 200% of the poverty level in Georgia in 2022.
Do women in Georgia have equal access to employment opportunities?
The labor force participation rate for women in Georgia has been declining since 2004 and stands at 55.8% (2023), down from 59.8% in 2004. Men have been hovering at or over 70% labor force participation rate in the U.S. since 2022 (The labor force participation rate is the proportion of the population ages 16 and older who is economically active (BLS.gov and Civilian labor force participation rate).
Like women in many other states, Georgia women experience occupational segregation and are often concentrated in lower-paying industries and roles. Access to high-paying jobs in fields like technology, finance, and executive leadership remains unobtainable for many women.
GBPI’s Director of Economic Justice, Ife Finch Floyd, wrote about the burden on women in the care economy earlier this year in “From Barriers to Bridges: Expanding Access to Child Care and Improving Upward Mobility for Georgia’s Child Care Workers.” Costs are too high relative to medium family income in most Georgia counties. For families of color, child care costs take up a greater share of their median family income compared to white families. Additionally, not all families have enough child care options available to them. Women often reduce their labor force participation to meet caregiving obligations, impacting their long-term earnings and wealth-building. Black women with young children tend to work more than their counterparts because they are often co- or main breadwinners and in greater need of child care. Georgia’s child care challenges that limit women’s ability to work have cost the state economy billions of dollars.
Cultural norms and traditional gender roles further influence women’s participation in the labor market, with many women expected to prioritize family and household responsibilities. If a woman in Georgia chooses to be a mom, she will earn less than a man. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) conducted a four-year analysis that found Georgia moms earn an annual wage of $34,527 while dads earn $56,106, leaving a gap of $21,579.
As in all other measurements, the earning potential is worse for Black women. IWPR reports
The Economic Progress Institute’s research demonstrates that even academic achievement does not close the pay gap for women.
At the end of the earning cycle, the news does not improve. The retirement income gap places women aged 65 and over at greater risk of poverty than men.
Do women in Georgia have equal access to business ownership and leadership?
Georgia has a vibrant community of women entrepreneurs, and the state has seen growth in women-owned businesses. However, access to capital and business networks is a challenge:
The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey reports, in Georgia :
- Percentage of business owners who are female: 38.2%
- Total number of female business owners: 184,122
- Total number of female business owners (incorporated firms): 66,354
Georgia is home to 19 Fortune 500 companies, and only one is led by a woman.
Do women in Georgia have equal access to educational attainment?
In the state of Georgia, women generally have equal access to education at all levels. However, there are still some disparities and challenges.
Girls and boys in Georgia have nearly equal enrollment rates in primary and secondary education. The Georgia Department of Education reports that as of March 2024, there are 162,959 girls and 170,832 boys enrolled.
Girls often perform as well as or better than boys in standardized tests and have higher graduation rates from high school. However, disparities can still exist based on socioeconomic status, race, and geographic location.
Women in Georgia enroll in higher education institutions at higher rates than men. Women are well-represented in colleges and universities across the state. Despite high enrollment rates, there continue to be disparities in the fields of study. Women are underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields but are more prevalent in fields like education, health sciences, and social sciences.
Women from racial and ethnic minority groups, particularly Black and Hispanic women, face additional barriers due to systemic inequalities. These can include less access to resources, lower graduation rates, and fewer opportunities in higher education. According to the University System of Georgia’s Fall 2023 Enrollment Report Brief, “The state university and state college sectors have the highest percentage of female student enrollment (62.4 and 62.7 percent, respectively), and the research sector has the lowest (51.5 percent). Georgia Institute of Technology is the only institution to have less than 50% female students (33% female).”
For example, Black women students in Georgia bear a disproportionate share of student debt, exacerbating economic inequalities. GBPI’s Senior Education Analyst, Ashley Young, explores this issue in her work “The Ongoing Battle for Student Loan Debt Relief.”
Do women have the power to make decisions in the education system in Georgia?
- The Georgia School Superintendents Association reports that 59 out of 190 Superintendents are women.
- 16 out of the 48 (33%) of the presidents of public higher education institutions are women, and 16% (5/32) of Georgia’s private and independent colleges are led by women.
- There are three women in Georgia’s 16-person Congressional Delegation.
- The Georgia General Assembly consists of 35% women.
- Georgia has around 530 municipalities, and approximately 22% of their mayors are women.
The Christian Science Monitor reported in 2022 that “only 2% of Georgia State Patrol officers are female.” In 2023, Researcher Chuck Wexler issued the report “, Progress on Women in Police Leadership, but Still a Long Way to Go.” In that report, Wexler shares “women made up just 12.8% of full-time sworn officers in local police agencies in 2019, essentially the same share as in 2007 and only slightly higher than their 10% share in 1997. The numbers are even lower in state police agencies, where just 7% of sworn state troopers are women. Women’s representation in local police agencies declines as rank increases: women account for just under 10% of sergeants or other first-line supervisors, 7.5% of intermediate supervisors, and fewer than 3% of chiefs of police.”
Do women in Georgia have equal access to healthcare and bodily autonomy?
It is widely known that women who want to be pregnant in Georgia face grim access to healthcare and health outcomes. Georgia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, and Black women are three times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. Moreover, over half of Georgia’s counties do not have an OB/GYN provider (Atlanta-Journal Constitution).
Commonwealth Fund 2024 State Scorecard on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care reports that 15% of women ages 19–64 in Georgia were without health insurance coverage in 2022. Georgia ranks 50th out of all states on coverage, access, and affordability for women.
In 2019, Georgia passed a ban on abortions after six weeks. Not only is this a direct affront to women’s freedom, but it also has an outsized impact on our economy, which impacts all Georgians. IWPR estimated in their analysis that Georgia had $6,024,433,432 in average annual economic loss (2021-2023) due to this restriction on access to basic healthcare. (IWPR)
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s 2022 Crime Statics Report:
- Rape in our state occurs once every 2 Hours, 22 Minutes and 17 Seconds
- Human trafficking (involuntary servitude) occurs in our state once every 14 Days, 55 Minutes and 23 Seconds
Policy Solutions to Move Women in Georgia Closer to Equality
There are policy solutions to these problems. However, solutions also require the will to implement them. Georgia certainly has the resources to address these issues, with $11.6 billion in unrestricted reserves at the end of FY24. Here are some actionable solutions:
1. Promote Pay and Fiscal Equity
- Enshrine Equal Pay
- Funded Paid Family Leave for ALL women in Georgia
- Raise the minimum wage for ALL Georgians
- Enact a refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit, also known as a Georgia Work Credit
- Implement a state-level Child Tax Credit
2. Expand Educational Opportunities
- Invest in STEM and High-Growth Industries
- Reduce Student Loan Debt
- Provide funding for need-based aid for higher education
3. Improve Access to Affordable Childcare
4. Hire, promote and elect more women
5. Address Systemic Barriers
Tailored programs that address the unique challenges faced by women of color are essential. This could include targeted financial services, mentorship programs, and anti-discrimination policies in hiring and promotions.
On Women’s Equality Day 2024, women in Georgia are not equal to men.
But how will we know when we have achieved equality?
The true measurement of equality is how Black women are faring. Janelle Jones, the first Black woman to serve as chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor, originally authored this groundbreaking agenda in 2020. The premise is that if our policy solutions are centered on the economic well-being of Black women, then we will all benefit from improved economic conditions. Black women, are time and time again, the most harmed by our systemic racist and sexist policies and economy. Whitney Tucker at the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities recently published a piece on the intersection of the Black Women’s Best framework and state tax reform, stating, “Centering Black women in fiscal reform means dismantling policies that protect and grow white advantage and obstruct Black women’s economic empowerment.” When Black women are thriving then all women can count themselves as equal.
It is important to note: (1) In the majority of measurements or comparisons based on gender, women are not faring better than men. When disaggregated based on race, in NO measurement are Black women faring better than white women. (2) The term women at GBPI includes cisgender and transgender women, individuals who identify along the female and femme areas of the gender spectrum and those who resist binary gender labels. Women of color include Black, Latina, Native American, Native Hawaiian and, Asian American and Pacific Islander women. Unfortunately, disaggregated data for various racial and ethnic groups and gender identities is limited.
One of the mantras of my career has been – nothing about us without us. So, Georgia, how about we put women in the positions to make decisions for women? We’ve done it your way since 1733; how about we try it a new way?
