This report was commissioned by the North Carolina Council for Women and Youth Involvement (CFWYI), an advocacy division housed in the North Carolina Department of Administration, and the North Carolina Council for Women (the Council), a group of 20 gubernatorial appointees who advise the governor, General Assembly, and state agencies on the status of women and recommend efforts to improve life for women in North Carolina.

The report was compiled by expert economists, researchers, and policy analysts at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), a longtime partner of the Council. The report builds on IWPR’s long-standing report series, The Status of Women in the States, which has provided data on the status of women nationally and for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia since 1996, including Status of Women in North Carolina reports in 2013, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022, as well as a series of briefing papers for specific geographic areas within the state.