Highlights

U.S. and Maryland Highlights

The State of Women and Girls in Howard County highlights that, while women have been shattering glass ceilings, many disparities remain, including:

On average, women who work full time, year-round are paid only 82 cents for every dollar paid to men — and for women of color, the wage gap is even larger.
Across the country, women are still struggling to get back to work and the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated long-simmering issues that women in particular face when it comes to managing work and family.
While there have been gains, women still hold less than a fifth of all corporate board seats in Maryland and women of color represent only 2.8 percent of all corporate board seats in Maryland.
Women are more likely than men to live in poverty at all adult ages and female-lead households are at particular risk for poverty.

Violence against women – particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence – is a major public health problem and the lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic and its social and economic impacts have increased the exposure of women to abusive partners and known risk factors, while limiting their access to services.
Sex trafficking is a serious public health problem and the majority of victims are women and girls.
Two out of every three caregivers in the United States are women, and they have a greater risk for poor physical and mental health, including depression and anxiety.
About 36 million women in the U.S. are living with a disability - 44% of women 65 or older are living with a disability.

Howard County Highlights

In The State of Women and Girls in Howard County the WGC presents information about Howard County in similar categories as the Maryland Commission for Women's recently released Maryland Women: A Status Report in order to remain consistent with the state’s analysis. The six categories are as follows:

Demographics and Diversity:

Women and girls make up slightly more than half of the population in Howard County, and while just about half of the county's workforce is female.
Women are likely to have median earnings that are less than men at every educational level.
Total population: 325,690, Female population: 51.10%, 166,427, Male population: 48.9%, 159,262

Work and the Economy:

Working mothers in Howard County require childcare for children of all ages and childcare costs represent a significant percent of working mothers' incomes.
49% of Howard County’s workforce is female.
Women’s median earnings are less than men’s at every education level.
Women in Howard County are less likely to own their own firms, and less likely to be employed in STEM occupations such as computer, engineering, and science as well as mathematical occupations.
In Howard County, the largest demographic living in poverty are women aged 25 - 34, followed by women aged 35 - 44.

Education and Educators:

3 females out of 5 Howard Community College (HCC) presidents.
For all HCC majors combined, female students graduate at slightly higher rates than male counterparts at each milestone.
Poverty rates are higher for Howard County women if their educational attainment is a high school graduate or less. Once women attain bachelor's degrees or higher educational degrees, the poverty rate for Howard County women becomes lower.

Health and Wellbeing:

Infant mortality rates are highest among Black mothers and there is an increase in preterm births and infant deaths with the rise in births among Asian mothers.
There is an increase in women never having had mammograms and delaying pap smears in 2021. This is a notable Covid-19 impact.
More women in Howard County are diagnosed with cancer on a yearly basis, and female breast cancer is at the top of the list of newly diagnosed cancers and preventative healthcare via mammograms has been negatively impacted likely due to Covid-19.

Safety and Justice:

68% of domestic violence victims through the end of August in 2021 were female.
The representation of women in government at the local, state and national levels is mixed.
Only one out of five Howard County judges is female, and women comprise less than 16 percent of all law enforcement officers.

Leadership and Political Participation:

Although there is a majority female population: 166,427+ women and girls in Howard County (51.1% of the population), leadership and political participation is underrepresented by women in almost all arenas.
In 2020, Howard County celebrated the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, yet representation of women in Howard County lags at top levels.
33% of Howard County State Senators are female.