For years, organizations have ranked cities, states and countries according to how friendly their workplaces are toward women, using barometers such as paid maternity leave, gender pay equity, flexible schedules and the percentage of managerial jobs held by women.
There are some common themes on these lists of the best and worst places for working women: Typically, the “best” places are in states that tend to choose Democratic presidential candidates and that are often on the East and West coasts or north of the Mason-Dixon Line. The “worst” places tend to be in the South, religiously or socially conservative states, and places where female legislative representation is lacking.
“It seems pretty clear from the results [of these studies] that more-liberal [areas] are better for female entrepreneurs, female politicians, moms and women in general,” said Stefanie K. Johnson, associate professor at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder. “This makes sense, because more-conservative values, like we tend to see in the South and Midwest, include a greater emphasis on traditional gender roles. Women stay home with children, men go to work. It’s hard to check those values at the [workplace] door.”
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