Women's History through a Current Lens: The Status of Girls and Women in Vermont

March is Women’s History Month. One fascinating way to bridge women’s history to what is happening today is by looking at the newly released report “The Status of Girls and Women in Vermont” by the Vermont Commission on Women. You can find the full report at http://www.women.state.vt.us/pdfs/VCW%20Status%20Rpt%2009.pdf.

Would any of the following statistics change if women’s contributions to our country - both historic and current - were fully understood by today’s students?

Politics and Government:
In her book, Pearls Politics & Power: How Women Can Win and Lead, Governor Madeleine Kunin lists a number of reasons why women are reluctant to run for public office: lack of confidence, enduring public criticism, raising money, taking the risk of losing, and giving up their privacy. However, in Vermont, when women decide to run for the legislature they are much more likely then men to win.

Colorado has the largest percentage of women in the legislature at 39%; New Hampshire is in second place with 37.3% and Vermont is a close third with 37.2%.

In 2008 there were 283 select boards with a total of 1,010 members. However, only 19% were women. Overall, 88% of select boards had no women members or were male-dominated.

Jobs and the Economy:
The wage gap is real in Vermont. In 2006 the median wage for a man was $16.08/hour while the median wage for a woman was $13.82/hour resulting in almost $5,000 less a year for the typical Vermont family to take care of basic needs. Vermont’s wage gap is smaller than some other states because Vermont has fewer manufacturing jobs and fewer minority women who historically have been paid only 50-60% of what men make.

What Vermont Teen Girls Say About Health and Wellness:
Body Image
• 95% felt appearance was somewhat to very important
• 39% were concerned about being overweight
• 40% reported thinking negatively about their body one to three times a week
• 60% compare their bodies to celebrities

Habits and Behaviors
• 1 in 20 reported considering suicide every day
• 1 in 8 struggles with feeling sad and hopeless every day
• 1 in 33 binge and purge to lose weight
• 21% skip breakfast
• 67% of respondents spend 1‐3 hours on the phone, computer, playing video games, text messaging or watching TV
• 60% indicated they had ridden in a car with a driver who was talking or text messaging on a cell phone

Over twice as many girls as boys in grades 9-12 reported depression in 2005.

Education
More women have a bachelor’s degree or higher than men in Vermont for every age group under 65. Having a college degree pays off in future earnings for both men and women. However a woman with a college degree only earns a few hundred dollars more than a man with a high school diploma; a woman with a graduate or professional degree earns less than a man with a bachelor’s degree.

Education does not erase or mitigate the wage gap.

Poverty is highly correlated with educational attainment. However, at almost every level of educational attainment, women are almost twice as likely to live in poverty.

Go go http://delicious.com/sigridlumbra and click on the tag "womenshistory" to find many women's history resources you can use in your classroom.