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 How Rhode Island ranks currently on key
indicators:
Women in Rhode Island: What’s
Promising
- Women in Rhode Island have the highest levels of health
insurance coverage in the country.
- Rhode Island women have the lowest levels of mortality
from suicide in the country.
- Women in Rhode Island have among the highest levels of
political representation through institutional resources,
including a commission for women and a women’s legislative
caucus.
- Women’s earnings in the state are among the highest in
the nation.
- Rhode Island is one of the few states that require
insurance policies to cover both contraceptives and
infertility treatments.
- Rhode Island has several important welfare policies that
benefit women. It allows the maximum time under federal law
for welfare eligibility, has adopted work exemptions for
women experiencing domestic violence, and extends full
benefits to children born or conceived while a mother
receives welfare. The maximum monthly benefit for families
receiving welfare in Rhode Island is also much higher than
the national average.
- Rhode Island adopted an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
following the federal model.
Women in Rhode Island: What’s
Disappointing
- Rhode Island women have among the lowest levels of
elected representation in state and national office in the
country.
- Rhode Island women have among the worst mortality rates
from heart disease, lung cancer, and breast cancer. They
rank last in New England for women’s overall health.
- There is great racial disparity in the incidence of AIDS
in the state. While just 2.6 per 100,000 white women have
AIDS, 32.2 Hispanic women and an even more alarming 78.8
African American women have the disease.
- Within the New England region, Rhode Island women have
the lowest labor force participation rate and the lowest
proportion of women working in professional and managerial
positions.
- Regionally, Rhode Island women have the second lowest
rates of educational attainment and the second highest rates
of poverty.
- Rhode Island does not provide public funding for
low-income women to pay for abortions.
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