January 2005

The 2005 'Women's Gift Guide'

by Dr. Madeline Behrendt

When you think of gifts for women, what comes to mind? Perhaps teddies, essential oils, or maybe an iPod? That's not what I'm thinking. Those gift ideas are so last month, so Christmas. To start off the New Year right, I'm thinking of gifts that are much more practical, such as women's political, economic, health, and social rights.

The Institute for Women's Policy Research (www.iwpr.org) compiled a report analyzing data on women in all 50 states and D.C. titled, “The Status of Women in the States 2004: Politics‑Economics‑ Health‑Rights‑Demographics.” This report is both a gift and a wake‑up call.

It's my position that in order to create a healthier, more prosperous, creative world, women need to be reconnected to their innate intelligence. Women are the world's greatest consumers. In the realm of health care they are responsible for or influence almost all health care expenditures. In essence, women's choices have created our health care system.

Yet, the health care system is a mess, and part of the problem is that women are buying products or services that don't protect their best self‑interest. And, when women take actions that don't protect their own self‑interest, those actions come from a place of disconnection, from what chiropractors identify as “subluxation.” All women can benefit from getting adjusted and becoming reconnected to their innate intelligence.

There are areas where women are less able to make direct choices about what affects their lives, such as the political, economic, and social policy realms. The report indicates women are making some progress in these areas but still “do not enjoy equality with men and lack many of the legal guarantees that would enable them to achieve it.” While in some cities, states or professions this is business as usual, in others the disappointment of these findings stimulates more women to participate in protecting their interests at the local and national policymaking levels. Of course, men need to be proactive about protecting the rights of their daughters, wives, sisters, and mothers.

Report findings

Following are some findings from the report on the status of women.

After ranking composite indices for political participation, economics (employment and earnings), social and economic autonomy, reproductive rights, and health and well‑being, overall the best states for women are Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Washington. The worst are Mississippi, South Carolina, Kentucky, and a tie between Arkansas and Oklahoma.

In political participation, between the fall of 1996 and the fall of 2004, the number of women in government grew. In the U.S. Congress, Senate seats increased from nine to 14 and House seats went up to 60 from 49. Women governors increased from one to nine. Nationally, women are more likely to register to vote than men in every state but Pennsylvania. Women are more likely to vote than men in all but seven states: Hawaii, Kentucky, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. Minnesota (67.9%) has the highest rate of women voter participation, and Arizona (41.4%) has the lowest.

Regarding employment and earnings, in every state the wage gap between women's and men's earnings narrowed between 1989 and 2002. U.S. women's median annual earnings (full‑time, year‑round) are $30,000, and the average earnings ratio between full‑time, year‑round employed women and men is 76.2% (Washington, D.C. is the highest at 92.4%, and Wyoming is the lowest at 66.3%). The percentage of women in the labor force is 59.6, and percentage of employed women in managerial or professional occupations is 33.2.

Looking at women's social and economic autonomy, while 87.9% of women are living above poverty, in 11 states women's poverty actually increased between 1995 and 2002. Twenty‑six percent of U.S. businesses are women‑owned. The U.S. average of women with health insurance is 82.3%, with Texas the lowest (71.7%) and Minnesota the highest (92.1%).

In health and well‑being, the components studied were disease‑based (heart, lung and breast cancer, diabetes, chlamydia, AIDS, poor mental health), suicide mortality, and limited activities. Based on these factors, the Mountain states region ranked well, the Southern and Mid‑Western states ranked poorly. No, subluxations were not a component, but wouldn't we all love to see those findings reported?

The World Chiropractic Alliance takes women's status very seriously. There is the Council and this column, as well as research devoted to promoting the benefits of subluxation‑based care on women's health and quality of life. These are important because today women need more than just information. Information alone is no longer power. There needs to be a context, and a provider who can offer the critical thinking needed to cut through information overload. And women need care. Chiropractors can provide all of these.

Chiropractors can provide the gift of helping subluxated women reconnect to their innate intelligence ‑‑ then watch those statistics change!

(Dr. Madeline Behrendt is chair of the WCA Council on Women's Health and associate editor of the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research [JVSR]. An author and speaker, she is committed to connecting women to chiropractic and chiropractors to women, and may be contacted at drmadeline@drmadelinedc.com)