Women's Foundation shows women trail men in pay

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

MINNEAPOLIS -- Hoping to counteract actions taken by the 2003 Minnesota Legislature, the Women's Foundation of Minnesota has completed a first-of-its-kind, county-by-county study which shows women still trail their male counterparts economically in Minnesota anywhere from 11 cents to as much as 45 cents below each dollar earned by men.

"It is particularly important (as the 2004 Legislative session opens) to spotlight the economic status of women," said Jane Ransom, president of Women's Foundation of Minnesota. "In the 2003 session, the legislature divested in women. It acted to reduce assistance for poor women and children and relaxed the implementation of Minnesota's pay equity law."

The least disparity ($1/.89) is found in Mahnomen County where the median incomes for male/female are $23,614 and $21,000. The greatest disparity is in employment in Koochiching County ($1/.55) where median incomes for male/female are $40,642 and $22,261.

In terms of least income disparity, Brown County leads six neighboring counties with a 26-cent differential which is good for 15th place in the state. That's based on a median income of $32,347 for males and $23,918 for females.

Renville and Sibley counties follow in a virtual dead-heat, separated by a tenth of a cent, at 73 cents. They rank 22nd and 23rd, respectively. Then, it drops to 71 cents ($30,251/$21,481) in Redwood County and to 70 cents in Nicollet County on median incomes of $36,236 and $25,344.

Cottonwood County trails in 55th place with 69 cents ($28,993/$19,934), and Watonwan County rounds out the seven-county area in 71st place at 68 cents ($29,242/$19,788).

It should be noted that these figures are based upon 2000 Census data, but the foundation didn't stop with an economic analysis of the status of women in Minnesota. It also measured women's educational attainment, labor force participation, numbers of women at or above poverty level and the number of women who own firms.

When all categories were considered, Nicollet County topped its six neighbors, finishing up 24th overall in the state, with Brown County taking 34th place. They were followed by Redwood (61), Cottonwood (62), Renville (64), Sibley (71) and Watonwan (80).

Nicollet County ranked seventh in the state with 38 percent of its female residents attaining at least an associate degree in post-secondary education.

Brown County, with 21.5 percent, was second among area counties for 64th place. Renville finished 65th, Redwood 72nd, Watonwan 77th, Cottonwood 78th and Sibley 79th. State average was 25.5 percent.

Nicollet County ranked fourth in Labor Force Participation with 71.6 percent of its female population, 16 years and older, numbering 11,876, in the labor force. Sibley followed in 31st place, with 64.7 percent of 11,876 females in the work force. Brown County was 32nd with 64.5 percent of its 10,783 female residents in the work force. Redwood (59.3 percent) followed in 52nd place, Watonwan (58.6 percent) in 57th place, Renville (58.2 percent) in 63rd, and Cottonwood (57.5 percent) in 67th place. The state average was 61.7 percent.

In the next category, percentage of females 18 years or older whose incomes are at or below poverty level, it paid to be near the bottom of the rankings as Nicollet County was. Based on 1999 income figures and 2000 Census demographics, 80.1 percent of the county's 11,381 females 18 and older were at or below the poverty level.

Sibley topped the seven-county area's rankings recording 89.8 percent of its 5,555 females, followed by Redwood 88.6 percent, Brown 88.2 percent, Renville 87.12 percent, Watonwan 87.11 percent and Cottonwood 86.5 percent.

Cottonwood County had the greatest number of women-owned businesses among the seven counties. It ranked 12th in the state with 334 firms out of a county total of 1,142 businesses being owned by women. Nicollet County followed in 47th place with 467 out of 2,158 firms, Brown in 59th place (447/2366), Watonwan 62nd (187/1,040), Sibley 68th (183/1,156), Redwood 71st (244/1,693) and Renville 75th (194/1,580).

The foundation also surveyed women's political participation, specifically elected to state, county or city government positions. It found, of the seven counties, there were no female state legislators, only one county commissioner, a sprinkling of other county officers, a mayor and no other city officials in the seven-county area. (However, that survey apparently was based on 2000 statistics as at least one city, New Ulm, now has two female councilors.)

"Minnesota is the first state in the nation to organize data on the status of women by county," said Marie Wilson, president of the White House Project and Ms. Foundation for Women. "This will be a really valuable tool for (fixing) grassroots problems."