The economic status of women in Montana: how far have we come since Montana elected the first Congresswoman?

• Author: Winkler, Celia C.
• Position: Statistical data

It's been nearly 100 years since Montana elected t e first woman to Congress. When Jeannette Rankin was elected in 1916, not all women had the right to vote. Montana was one of the states where women could vote in some form, and one of the Congresswoman's goals was to "be remembered as the only woman who ever voted to give women the right to vote."

While women have made great strides since Rankin's time, they do not share equally in the economic well-being of the state. The wage gap shortchanges women, regardless of education, age, or race/ethnicity. As it has since the dawn of the industrial age, poverty disproportionately affects women and children, particularly female-headed households, American Indian and Hispanic/Latina women, and older women. While women now participate equally in the wage economy and earn a majority of all bachelor's degrees, this has not led to financial equality.

Women's work, in the home and in the labor market, has always been an indispensable factor in the economic health of the nation and Montana. In the last few decades, however, women's paid work has become a necessity, as the purchase of a home requires more than one median-level income, but women continue to be underpaid for the value of their work.

Women's Earnings

At $31,067, Montana women working full time, year-round have the fourth lowest median annual earnings of any state in the nation. Their earnings are more than $6,000 below the $37,133 level for women across the United States. Median annual earnings for men in Montana also are lower than the United States as a whole, $41,635 compared to $46,993. That is, Montana men earn 89 percent of the national men's average income, while Montana women, working full time, year-round, earn 84 percent of the national average of women's wages and 66 percent of the national average of men's wages.

Total median annual earnings for women in Montana in 2011 (including part-time and part-year employment) were $19,614, third from the bottom in the nation, above only Idaho and Utah. This figure is significant because it indicates the impact of underemployment on total earnings.

The Wage Gap

In the United States, women's wages continue to lag behind men's wages. In 2011, the median wages of women who worked full time, year-round were only 78.8 percent of men's, up from 76.7 percent in 2005. However, in 2011, the female/male full-time earnings ratio in Montana was 74.2 percent, up from 70.4 percent in 2005, as shown in Figure 1.

Even among its comparators in the Rocky Mountain region, Montana ranks third from the bottom in its female/ male earnings ratio (Figure 2).

The earnings ratio becomes even starker when we focus on Montana's American Indian residents. In Montana, 6.4 percent of women are Native American/Alaskan Native. In all categories, American Indians earn a fraction of the earnings of the rest of Montana's population, with American Indian women earning 93 percent of the income earned by the total population of Montana women, and American Indian men earning approximately 85 percent of the earnings of total Montana male population for full-time, year-round work. But American Indian women earn only 67 percent of the earnings of the total Montana male population. Where the difference is most marked is in the total earnings, which takes into account factors such as unemployment and underemployment. There, American Indian women earn only 44 percent and American Indian men earn only 56 percent of the total Montana male earnings.

There are several possible reasons for lower earnings for women and American Indians, including reduced work hours or later or interrupted entry into the labor market...