Assessing the Status of Women at the County Level: A Manual for Researchers and Advocates

This 42-page report provides instructions for analysing the status of women at the county level throughout the United States. It is intended for policymakers, researchers, and advocates who seek data about women in respect to advancing policies and programmes which promote gender equity. The manual is described as being "widely utilized to improve state policies that affect women’s status."

Over the past ten years, the USA-based Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) has put together a series of reports for each state including the District of Columbia. According to the report description, "just as state-level analysis has informed state policies and programs, community indicators can inform local policy by identifying areas of need and providing a context for local policy agendas."

The manual allows for each state to assess women’s status at the local level, ranks counties, and makes cross-county comparisons, by ranking and grading each county on a set of indicators. Such analyses are described for an entire state, a portion of a state, or a region including portions of several states.

Click here for The Status of Women - 2004 website.