The Status of Women in the States project ranks and grades Maine across several areas of women’s lives. While Maine performs better in some areas, no matter the rank, there are still barriers and inequities that prevent women from succeeding and thriving. Across all indices, Maine ranks toward the top of states in the country. Maines’s performance is the strongest on the Political Participation and Reproductive Rights indices. Maines’s performance is weakest on the Employment and Earnings and the Health and Well-Being indices.
Explore the Data
As state policies and programs have changed over the years, so has the status of women in Maine. Since 1996, Maine has made progress in some areas, while lagging in others.
Articles and Publications
Women Servers Earn Significantly Less than Their Male Counterparts
In 2023, 2.2 million people worked as servers in the United States, of which almost two-thirds were women. Additionally, most workers earning a tipped minimum wage were employed in the restaurant industry. This quick figure explores disparities among servers across gender, race, and ethnicity. [...]
State by State, Mothers Are Paid Much Less than Fathers
Mothers’ earnings are crucial for their own and their families’ economic security. Mothers are more likely than ever to be in the labor market: almost three-quarters (74.0 percent) of mothers of children under 18 were employed or looking for work in 2023, a higher [...]
Reproductive Health Care: Concerns and Priorities
A new national poll from IWPR higlights the critical importance of reproductive health and rights to American families. The poll, released two years after the landmark Dobbs decision, underscores the level of national support policymakers have to advance abortion access nationwide amid increasing state-level [...]
