The NC Department of Administration’s Council for Women and Youth Involvement today released the 2022 Status of Women in North Carolina: Poverty and Opportunity Report.
Produced in partnership with the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the report presents data on poverty, economic security, access to opportunities, and support that helps North Carolina women and families achieve economic success. Data was collected based on four key poverty and opportunity indicators including health insurance coverage, educational attainment, business ownership and poverty rates. Most of the data comes from 2019, but the report also shares emerging data on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While report data suggests that modest progress has been made since 2016, North Carolina still has a great deal of room for improvement, earning an overall D+. With Governor Roy Cooper’s leadership, North Carolina is working to improve progress in healthcare access, educational attainment, and support for women in the workforce.
“While we’ve had some successes over the past few years, the data remains disconcerting and we must continue to press for greater progress for women in North Carolina,” said NC Department of Administration Secretary Pamela B. Cashwell. “Lifting up women also helps families and entire communities and it will take all of us to improve the financial well-being, health and educational status of women and families across our state.”
Key findings from the report include:
- North Carolina ranks 44th nationally for its share of women (aged 18 to 64 years old) with health insurance (85.5 %), falling below the national average of 88.7 %. Additionally, there are large racial and ethnic disparities in health insurance coverage for women ranging from 90 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander women with health insurance to nearly 60 percent of Hispanic women insured.
- North Carolina is among the states with the largest share of women-owned businesses, ranking tenth in the nation.
- Poverty, especially among women of color and single mothers, is a persistent problem. More North Carolina women live in poverty compared with women in the US overall, with 13.6 % of the state’s women aged 18 and older living in poverty.
- Educational attainment among North Carolina’s women varies greatly across counties. The share of women with a bachelor’s or higher ranges from a low of 10 % in Hyde County to a high of 61 % in Orange County.
To improve economic security and opportunities for North Carolina women and families, the report makes several policy recommendations including the expansion of affordable health care, improving gender wage disparities, and enhancing support of women-owned businesses.
Under Governor Cooper’s leadership, efforts are underway to improve healthcare access, educational attainment, and better support women in the workforce. Governor Cooper continues to champion the expansion of Medicaid, which would benefit hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians, bring billions of dollars into the state’s economy, and create high-quality jobs. To improve educational access and attainment, Governor Cooper launched the Longleaf Commitment program to help North Carolinians get the skills they need by making community college debt-free and the Finish Line Grants program to help community college students stay on track to complete their training in the face of financial emergencies. To help ensure women can stay in the workforce, Governor Cooper provided paid parental leave for state government employees and has encouraged other North Carolina employers to do the same. He also signed an executive order to prohibit the use of salary history in the state hiring process, which can perpetuate gender pay gaps.
High-quality, affordable child care is critical to women’s economic security and participation in the workforce. Cooper’s administration is providing North Carolina Child Care Stabilization Grants and other support to increase access to high-quality child care and provide better wages and benefits for the early childhood educator workforce that is primarily women. Governor Cooper also led to expand funding for the NC Pre-Kindergarten Program and Smart Start.
The report shows that North Carolina ranks tenth in the nation for the share of women-owned businesses, with almost 2 in 5 businesses (38.9%) owned by women. In addition, businesses owned by a woman or racial ethnic minority account for 58% of NC’s small businesses. To support North Carolina’s small, women and minority-owned businesses, Governor Cooper created the ReToolNC Small Business Grant Program to address the need for capital by diverse businesses hit hard by the COVID pandemic. Thus far the ReToolNC program has provided over $20 million in grant funds with $11.6 million going directly to more than 600 certified women-owned businesses.
“To continue improving the outlook for women and the future of our state, we must invest in expanding opportunities and resources for the advancement of women and their families across North Carolina,” said Council for Women and Youth Involvement Director Danielle Carman.
Poverty and Opportunity is the final publication of a four-part series that highlights key issues impacting the lives of women across North Carolina. All four Status of Women Reports are resource tools that can be used for shaping public policies, prioritizing investments, and setting programmatic goals to improve the lives of women and families across the state. The first three reports focused on employment and earnings, health and wellness and political participation.
To learn more about this or other reports in the Status of Women in North Carolina series, visit NC Department of Administration website.
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About NCDOA and the NC Council for Women and Youth Involvement
The N.C. Department of Administration acts as the business manager for North Carolina state government. Under the leadership of Secretary Pamela B. Cashwell, the department oversees government operations and advocacy programs. The department's advocacy programs help to promote and assist diverse segments of the state's population that have been traditionally underserved. NCDOA’s Council for Women and Youth Involvement division advises the governor, state legislators and state leaders on issues that impact women and youth.
About the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR)
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that conducts and communicates research to inspire public dialogue, shape policy, and improve the lives and opportunities of women of diverse backgrounds, circumstances and experiences. IWPR also works in collaboration with the Program on Gender Analysis in Economics at American University.