Poverty Among Utah Women: A 2022 Update

In 2016, 46.9% of Utah female-headed households with related children under age 5 were living in poverty. Since then, the overall poverty rate in Utah has decreased 2.4%. However, over a third (36.4%) of that same demographic still live in poverty. Additionally, although Utahns experience lower rates of poverty than the national average (8.9% in Utah vs. 12.3% nationwide), more women continue to live in poverty than men (9.6% vs. 8.2%, respectively). Many factors influence poverty among Utah women; for example, the gender wage gap is one of the highest in the nation, and women are more likely to work minimum-wage and part-time jobs with no benefits. In January 2022, the UWLP published a research snapshot on poverty among Utah women, updating the original report that was published in 2016. This episode explores some of the highlights of the report with Dr. Susan Madsen, Founding Director of the Utah Women & Leadership Project; Dr. Emily S. Darowski, Assistant Librarian, Brigham Young University; and Dawn-Marie Wood, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Brigham Young University.