The Status of Women in Western North Carolina

Women in Western North Carolina, as in North Carolina as a whole, have made much progress during the last few decades. The majority of women work—many in professional and managerial jobs—and women are a mainstay of the economic health of their communities. Yet, there are some ways in which women’s status still lags behind men’s, and not all women are prospering equally. This briefing paper provides basic information about the status of women in Western North Carolina—including Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties—focusing on women’s earnings and workforce participation, level of education, poverty, access to child care, and health status. It also provides background demographic information about women in the region. Work and Earnings Women are an important part of Western North Carolina’s labor force, but they continue to face specific challenges in the workforce, including a persistent gender wage gap (Figure 1 and Table 1). In this part of the state, half of women aged 16 and older (51 percent) are in the workforce (Figure 1). i The proportion of women who are either employed or actively looking for work in this area is lower than in the state and the United States as a whole (both 59 percent), which is likely a reflection of Western North Carolina’s higher-than-average share of older women in the population (Table 4). In Western North Carolina, as in North Carolina overall, the labor force participation rate for women is much lower than for men (Table 1)