Event will include a panel of Los Angeles-area female leaders and experts
Mount Saint Mary’s University – the only women’s university in Los Angeles – will release the 2023 Report on the Status of Women and Girls in California on March 22 at the Skirball Cultural Center.
The event will include a panel of Los Angeles-area female leaders and experts, led by LA County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Maria S. Salinas, and incoming CEO of LAHSA Va Lecia Adams Kellum.
The Report is produced annually by the Center for the Advancement of Women at Mount Saint Mary’s to highlight current research and data related to issues affecting women and girls in California. This year’s report entitled, “Advancing Equity: Leading with Meaning and Purpose”, focuses on educational attainment, occupational disparity, earnings and wealth gaps among others.
“We are excited to share this year’s data. As the only women’s university in Los Angeles, and one of the most diverse in the nation, we feel compelled to lead the conversation towards gender equity,” said Ann McElaney-Johnson, Ph.D., president of Mount Saint Mary’s. “We hope this research opens eyes and continues to influence policies statewide.”
Key findings from the 2023 Report on the Status of Women and Girls in California show that 13 percent of California women lost their jobs in 2020 and 2021 due to reduced work hours, while median earnings for those working full-time increased by 14 percent. Earnings for women working part-time rose 9 percent.
The flexibility to work remotely increased from 1 in 14 women before the pandemic to 1 in 3 currently. For households headed by women alone with no spouse or partner present, the poverty rate more than doubles from 9 percent to 21 percent if children are present.
California is home to 1.5 million women-owned businesses which comprise 36 percent of privately-owned businesses with paid employees in the state. This represents the largest number of women-owned businesses in the United States.
The report shows that life expectancy has decreased almost two years since 2019, now at 79 years, and 38.2 percent of women have been affected by Long COVID compared with only 20.8 percent of men. According to the data, an estimated 38.2 percent of women have been plagued by Long COVID statewide compared with 20.8 percent of men.
