By Nathalia Teixeira / Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

In Ohio, women earn on average 79 cents for every dollar a man earns, according to 2019 U.S. Census Bureau data analyzed by the National Women's Law Center.

Nationally, in 2002, women working full and part-time earned 80% of what men earned. By 2022, that had risen to just 82%, according to the Pew Research Center.

"One of the biggest reasons we haven't seen it reverse is because a lot of the reasons it exists in the first place are structural," said Sheri Jones, past president of the National Association of Women's Business Owners-Columbus.

Women are generally responsible for childcare, eldercare and home activities, experts said. They also face discrimination at work, and due to these structural factors, they tend to work in lower-paid fields that reduce their earnings for their entire life.

"Historically - especially in American culture, but in most cultures - people have been taught that women have qualities that are weaker, that they're less successful, that they're less focused. All of that is entirely untrue," said Kelley Griesmer, president and CEO of the Women's Fund of Central Ohio. "And the biases are the same on the reverse. Men are expected to be very confident, very successful."

Women are often expected to be good mothers and care for their homes, even when working in a full or part-time job.

"Women are still the ones managing the mental load at home, putting all that cognitive effort into managing the household," said Susan Fisk, associate professor of sociology at Kent State University. "They're still doing more housework."

Some women leave their jobs to focus on home and family duties, Jones said.

"Women, traditionally, it's so stressful to try to manage all these things that in a lot of cases they just give up and it's not worth it," Jones said. "Until we're willing to look at the structure and how we ask women to work, they may continue to choose to leave the workforce instead of work."

Fisk explained two sources of the gender wage gap. One is horizontal gender segregation, in which women are more likely to work in jobs that pay less, such as daycare. The second contributor is vertical gender segregation, in which the further you climb up an organization's ladder, the fewer women you see.

"People are just sort of less comfortable when that behavior [leadership] comes from women," Fisk said.

Joining the professional environment can be overwhelming for women as they face many challenges other than wages, such as discrimination, stereotypes and social stigmas.

"Women face negative stereotypes about their competence," Fisk said. "This can make it harder for women to succeed in these fields and cause them to experience bias in hiring, promotion and their day-to-day work."

Griesmer also mentioned that there are reports that show if you have two resumes that look the same with the same qualifications, but you put a woman's name at the top of the resume instead of a man's, research shows that the people who blindly review those resumes tend to think the man is more qualified than the woman.

Women come to the workforce more highly educated, Jones said. By not paying women the same as men, we're losing out on more diverse and interesting ideas and more innovation, she said.

"The patriarchal narrative continues because very often - for white men, all men but especially white men - it's very hard for them to admit that although they are decent people, they are still not treating women fairly," Griesmer said. "They want to believe that they've already mastered that."

The gender pay gap leads to the gender wealth gap. Griesmer and Jones pointed out that when a woman is underpaid in a previous job and a new job is offered to her, she may earn more, but a man who started out earning more may experience a bigger bump in pay.

"It just kind of haunts you the rest of your career," Griesmer said.

Women of color were among the groups that most suffered from the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas before the pandemic the Women's Fund of Central Ohio wealth gap showed that women of color own $0.02 for every dollar that a single man owns.

"The sad news is that the pandemic likely caused women to lose almost a generation of advances because so many of the programs that support women, the support structures for women, were removed or couldn't be given because of the way the world interacted during the pandemic," Griesmer said. "That's why a lot of people now refer to the pandemic as a she-cession, because women were so disproportionately impacted."

This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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Wisconsin policymakers have less than a month to adopt a new state budget. Advocates for extending postpartum health coverage through Medicaid hope it winds up in the final spending plan.

Through the American Rescue Plan, states have the option to extend Medicaid coverage for new mothers for up to a year after they give birth. To receive matching federal funds, states have to create their own program for this benefit.

Dr. Jennifer Krupp, maternal-fetal medicine specialist at SSM Health, said the current 60-day coverage window puts too many new mothers at risk for serious medical complications - such as hypertension disorder.

"When we only see them for two months, because that's all the coverage they have," said Krupp, "we really can't make sure all of their needs are being met to control their blood pressure."

She said depression is another chronic problem that could affect outcomes for both the mother and child if left untreated.

That's because the condition limits the mother to tend to her health needs, while impacting her bonding with her newborn.

The proposed Wisconsin extension has bipartisan support, but it's unclear if it will be included in the Department of Human Services section of the budget.

Annmae Minichiello is a UW Health pharmacist and American Heart Association volunteer. She said the issue is near and dear to her, because she developed a rare form of heart failure after the birth of her daughter.

She said she was lucky to have health coverage, noting the lengthy follow-up that was needed to avoid a dire outcome.

"I had to have several echocardiograms for months and years - and annually still, even though this incident happened about six years ago," said Minichiello. "So, if I didn't have that follow-up, it could be very fatal."

Her experience inspired her to speak up for women who need that extended coverage so that more lives can be saved.

Efforts such as this come amid recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showing alarming trends when it comes to the nation's maternal mortality rate. The rates have grown considerably higher for Black women.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Utah women.

According to the Utah Women and Leadership Project at Utah State University, Utah is among the three lowest-ranked states in the country for mammography screening rates in women aged 40 or older. According to the group, The Utah Department of Health and Human Services was unable to meet its goal of 76% of Utah women, aged 40 years and older, to be screened for breast cancer in 2020.

Chloe Bhowmick, clinical psychologist and research fellow for the Utah Women and Leadership Project, said a lot of the challenges inhibiting mammography rates are "financial and systemic."

"Having lack of insurance, not having insurance coverage through their job, not being able to get time off," Bhowmick outlined. "Those are all, I think, pretty important factors that we found or at least we surmised in being pretty significant."

Bhowmick noted other factors which have negatively affected screening rates include lack of affordable child care, discrepancies between mammography guidelines as well as varying levels of health literacy. Only 62.7% of Utah women aged 40 years and older reported having a mammogram in the last two years. The national average for U.S. women in the same group was 69%.

Bhowmick emphasized it is also important to not forget because of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical centers are still catching up on the backlog of mammography appointments, which can further delay preventive services.

Bhowmick added while the Beehive State is currently sitting 6.3% below the national average, local and state systems can take steps to increase screening rates, including having insurance systems building patient advisories into electronic record systems, tracking how often providers remind individuals of preventive care and employers implementing initiatives such as wellness programs and policies.

"I think having systems that support women, women will be able to both realize that this should be a priority with certain age groups, but also they have the freedom to go," Bhowmick explained.

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services has a goal of 81% of age-eligible Utah women receiving a mammogram by 2030. Bhowmick stressed education and advocacy from community groups can help the state reach its goal.


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To wrap up Women's Health Week, doctors are urging women to take stock of their mental health.

Dr. Sharon Eloranta, medical director at the Washington Health Alliance, said COVID-19 was hard for everyone and led to a drop in health screenings.

She said with the worst of the pandemic over, some women may need to consider how to prioritize their health.

"Women experienced more anxiety and stress during the time of the pandemic," said Eloranta, "and I think that may have been reflective of the fact that they worry not only about their own health, but about health of the people in their families and others. And that can be a hill to climb if you're trying to get back into taking good care of yourself."

For Women's Health Week - which runs through Saturday - the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking women to schedule regular checkups, exercise and eat a healthy and balanced diet.

CDC data show a disturbing trend in mental health, with the rate of young girls saying they attempted suicide twice that of young boys.

Dr. Donna O'Shea, an OB/GYN and chief medical officer of Population Health at UnitedHealthcare, said parents need to be on the lookout for symptoms of depression and anxiety in adolescent girls.

"Especially after COVID," said O'Shea. "We found that 57% of high school girls have experienced persistent feelings of sadness in the last year. Ten years ago, that number was only 36%."

Eloranta said it's important for people to pay attention when they aren't feeling normal.

"'I'm just down, and nothing that usually makes me happy tends to change it.' Then that's time to reach out and try and find some support," said Eloranta. "And again, it can be through your employer, it can be through your primary care. You can always call a friend and see if they have any referrals for you to go and get some assistance."