By Beth Reese Cravey
Wednesday, Liang and other members of the Florida Alliance released a county-level analysis of the status of women in Florida.
The report detailed how women in the state have higher rates of poverty, lower rates of bachelor’s and master’s degrees and lower access to health insurance coverage than U.S. women overall. The report — “The Status of Women in Florida by County: Poverty & Opportunity” — was commissioned by the Florida Alliance and written by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington.
The report showed Northeast Florida as “sort of in the middle” of the state in terms of women’s economic, education and health status, with low points and high points, Liang said. “But we’re in the middle of the 47th state.”
For example, about 18.4 percent of women in Baker County and 16.7 percent of women in Duval live in poverty, compared to 15.4 percent statewide and 14.6 percent nationwide, according to the report. The rates in Clay and St. Johns are the lowest in the area, about 10 percent.
