by Cynthia Hess, Ph.D.

IWPR recently launched new work on its Status of Women in the States project, an influential series of research reports and data analyses that has provided reliable data on the economic, social, health, and political status of women for nearly two decades. With partial support from the Ford Foundation, IWPR is developing a national report with state-level data on the status of women, a report on the status of women in the U.S. South (including eleven Southern states and the District of Columbia), and  fact sheets on the status of women, one each for the 50 states and Washington, DC. This work will expand on IWPR’s long-running series: to date, IWPR has produced more than 100 Status of Women in the States publications, including comprehensive reports on each U.S. state and the District of Columbia, several city/area reports, and a series of reports and a toolkit on women in the Middle East and North Africa.

Developed in partnership with expert advisory committees, IWPR’s forthcoming reports will provide disaggregated data to explore how contextual factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation correlate with higher or lower status on a range of indicators. Following the methodology developed by IWPR in the mid-1990s, the reports will provide a composite index for each of the main topical areas covered—employment and earnings, social and economic autonomy,health and well-being, reproductive rights, and political participation—and assign letter grades and rankings that reflect each state’s performance in these areas. IWPR will also develop new chapters for the national and Southern states reports on work-family issues and violence against women. The reports will be released in 2015.

In the initial project phase, IWPR has established advisory committees for the national and Southern states reports consisting of researchers, advocates, service providers, business and labor leaders, media and communications experts, philanthropists, and policymakers. In later phases IWPR will enhance outreach and dissemination through website development and online engagement. The project expects to develop interactive charts and maps, downloadable data tables, and other data visualizations that will all be available on the website. These visualizations will make the findings more user-friendly and communicate information about the status of women in an engaging and succinct way.

This phase of IWPR work on the Status of Women in the States marks an exciting new chapter in the Institute’s ongoing efforts to provide reliable information that can serve as a catalyst for positive changes for women and their families. For nearly two decades, state and federal policymakers, journalists, advocates, and community leaders have used IWPR’s Status of Women in the States reports to make the case for improved programs and public policies. The project’s many outcomes include strengthening the case for millions of dollars in additional state and local funding for services that benefit women; strengthening or creating organizations, councils, or task forces on women; informing the economic agendas of local, state, and federal policymakers; and determining programmatic investments. IWPR looks forward to continuing to provide targeted state and national data to organizations seeking to strengthen local communities and society as a whole by improving the status of women.

To find out more information and to learn how to support the project, click here.

Cynthia Hess, Ph.D., is a study director at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

To view more of IWPR’s research, visit IWPR.org