MSMU RSWG 2023 final - Flipbook - Page 7
HIGHLIGHTS
2023 Key Takeaways
We have highlighted findings from each primary area of research in this year’s Report
to reveal what is helping, or preventing, California women from leading purpose-filled
lives of their choosing.
ECONOMIC SECURITY
HOME AND FAMILY
HEALTH
• In 2020 and 2021, 13% of California
women lost a job. Roughly 1 in 4
experienced income loss due to
reduced work hours.
• Overall, 9% of California’s family
households experience poverty. But
for households headed by women,
with no spouse present, the poverty
rate more than doubles to 21%.
(And it is 29% for women-headed
households with children.)
• COVID-19 has impacted life
expectancy for both women and men.
Life expectancy for all Californians
shortened from 80.9 years in 2019 to
79.0 in 2020 — an almost two-year
drop in a single year.
• The median earnings of California
women working full-time increased
14% from 2019 to 2021. Earnings for
women working part-time rose 9%.
• Those earnings vary substantially
by ethnicity. Median earnings for
a White woman working full-time in
2021, for instance, equaled $73,059.
At the other end of the scale, Latinas
earned $40,524.
• Nationally, the estimated median
wealth of White men is $83,440. That
drops to $66,930 for White women
and drops to $6,700 and $6,000 for
Latina and Black women.
• The flexibility to work remotely
continues. In 2019, 1 in 14 women
worked from the home. In 2021, 1 in 3
worked remotely.
• California women are still charting
their own course to economic security
and employment independence. Our
state is home to the largest number
of women-owned businesses in the
United States — 1.5 million.
• California women own or co-own
36% of the state’s privately owned
businesses with paid employees.
• Education and poverty are
inextricably linked. Among
households headed by a single
woman without a high school degree,
the poverty rate is 34% — more
than 1 in 3. When that woman has
a bachelor’s degree or higher, the
poverty rate drops to 10%.
• Among California women who are 25
years or over, more than 1 in 3 (37%)
have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
• Housework and childcare remain
the mother’s domain. Even
among families where the mother
is employed, 77% of mothers say
they have primary responsibility
for housework; 61% have primary
responsibility for childcare.
• Christianity remains the most common
faith tradition among California
women, practiced by 69% of female
residents. But California’s diverse
population also creates a mosaic of
some of the country’s most diverse
faith communities.
• COVID-19 vaccines can help save
lives; unvaccinated Californians
are nearly three times more likely
to die than vaccinated individuals.
Statewide, women make up 53% of
all Californians vaccinated against
COVID-19.
• Californians report that symptoms of
long COVID continue to affect them
long term. An estimated 38% of
women have been plagued by long
COVID statewide compared with 21%
of men.
• Infant and maternal (pregnancyrelated) mortality rates remain far
higher for Black mothers and babies.
Black babies are twice more likely to
die than White babies. Black mothers
are four times more likely to die
from pregnancy-related causes than
White mothers.
• Sleep is healing. Yet 3 in 10 California
women report they get insufficient
sleep.
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