Best States for Gender Equality In Education

Pointers at Glance

• Two metrics were considered in analyzing gender disparities in the education category.
• The best states for gender equality in the education category are listed in this article.

The Best States for Gender Equality analysis of the education category observes gender disparities in two metrics: four-year graduation rates between women & men and eighth-grade achievement test scores in math and reading between girls and boys. Education is the only one in which women’s outcomes are stronger than men’s of all the disparity-based categories in analysis.

States in the Northeast, the West Coast and bordering the Great Lakes received the highest marks in the education category, which means they had the smallest disparities between men and women. Maryland, Indiana and Illinois stood in the top three spots. Meanwhile, Alabama, Idaho and Arkansas earned the lowest scores of all the states.

Women completed their degrees at higher rates than men in every state among four-year college degree seekers at public universities. Nationally, 66% of women finished compared to 59.7% of men, with a difference of 6.3 percentage points.

Girls also have higher achievement test scores in reading than boys in every state, with an increasing gap as the grade levels progress. Nationally, Girls surpass boys by 7 points at grade four, 11 points by grade eight, and 13 points by grade 12. In math, boys have a lead at grade 4 in nearly all states, but nationally they have a lead only by 3 points. The difference in average scores drops to much less than 1 point by grade eight.

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