Key Findings from the 2022 Baseline

When WGC launched the State of Women and Girls in Howard County in 2022, we gathered available data to establish a baseline understanding of the experiences of women and girls in our community.

• The research reinforced an important reality: Howard County is a highly educated and prosperous community, but countywide measures of success do not tell the whole story for women and girls.​
• The 2022 report identified disparities, challenges, and opportunities across six areas of women's and girls' lives.

Demographics and Diversity

• Women and girls represented slightly more than half of Howard County's population, with more than 166,000 women and girls living in the county.
• The data also highlighted the importance of looking beyond overall population numbers to understand differences among women and girls by age, race, ethnicity, income, family structure, and other characteristics.

Work and the Economy

• Women represented approximately half of Howard County's workforce, yet women's median earnings were lower than men's at every educational level.
• Childcare represented a significant expense for working families, women were less likely to own their own firms or work in STEM occupations, and some groups of women faced significantly greater economic vulnerability despite Howard County's overall prosperity.

Education and Educators

• Women and girls demonstrated strong educational attainment and achievement, but education, economic security, and opportunity were closely connected.
• The data showed that poverty rates were higher for Howard County women with lower levels of educational attainment, while women attaining bachelor's degrees or higher experienced significantly lower rates of poverty.​

Health and Wellbeing

• The data highlighted disparities in maternal and infant health, including higher infant mortality rates among Black mothers and differences in birth outcomes among racial and ethnic groups.
• The COVID-19 pandemic also disrupted preventive healthcare, with increases in women delaying mammograms and other screenings.
• Breast cancer remained one of the significant health concerns identified for women in Howard County.

Safety and Justice

• Women and girls were disproportionately affected by domestic and sexual violence, while women were underrepresented in parts of Howard County's justice and law enforcement systems.
• The data reinforced that living in a community considered broadly safe does not mean that every woman or girl experiences safety in the same way.

Leadership and Political Participation

• Although women and girls represented a majority of Howard County's population, women were underrepresented in many leadership and decision-making roles.
• Representation varied considerably across government, business, nonprofit leadership, public safety, and other sectors.

What the 2022 Baseline Told Us

Taken together, the 2022 findings demonstrated why looking at Howard County through a gender lens matters.
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• Countywide averages can mask important differences in economic security, health, safety, opportunity, representation, and lived experience.
• The baseline also raised questions that available data could not fully answer, particularly about how women's and girls' experiences differ by race, ethnicity, age, income, and other circumstances.
• The State of Women and Girls gave us a starting point: what we knew in 2022, what we did not yet know, and what we wanted to continue learning.

Looking Ahead

• In 2027, five years after establishing this baseline and as WGC celebrates our 25th Anniversary, we will return to these six areas to examine what has changed, what has persisted, what new information has emerged, and what we understand differently today.
• The 2022 highlights give us a starting point. Five Years Later will help us understand where we are now and what we should keep watching, learning, and asking.