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What's the Status Of North Carolina Women?

Women in North Carolina vote more and have higher levels of education than men, but a new report shows there are still major struggles.

Numbers from the latest “Status of Women in North Carolina” report were presented yesterday in a Nursing Assistants clinical lab at Wake Tech, where most of the students are women.  This is Hope Marr’s second week in the program. The 24-year-old single mom was in Business Management at NC-State, but had to drop out.

Hope Marr:  "Due to financial aid and money to go back, I don’t have the money to go back to school right now, because I’m trying to work and take care of my child."

The report shows, a persistent gender wage gap, the high cost of child care, and limited access to public programs has kept women like Marr economically unstable.  Beth Briggs is Executive Director of the North Carolina Council for Women that helped coordinate the study.

Beth Briggs:  "And I think as we looked at this data, the way to equity issues for someone of my generation who has fought for this for 30 years, I would have thought it would be better by now."

Female headed households with children in North Carolina have a median annual income of $20,400.

Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.
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