Jiaqi Zhao is a second-year Master of Public Policy student at the McCourt School of Public Policy. She currently works at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security as an Economic Research Assistant and is also the President of the Georgetown East Asian Policy Association. Recently, she worked on the 2020 Women, Peace and Security Index at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. The full report is available here.
This interview was conducted via email and the responses have been edited for style and clarity.
Dan: What is the US Women, Peace and Security Index?
Zhao: This is a first-ever index report on US Women, Peace and Security. [The index] examines the status of women along the dimensions of inclusion, justice and security in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and reveals vast disparities across place and race. In total, [the index] measures 12 indicators of the status of women across three dimensions and provides a standardized and quantitative measure for ranking all states.
Dan: What made you interested in this topic?
Zhao: The gender issue is an important topic around the world. Since I am here in the U.S., I want to learn more about how the issue varies from state to state. I was first attracted by the index’s method; I was curious about how the project merges and categories so many indicators. In addition, the index covers economic and healthcare indicators — which are exactly what I am interested in.
Dan: As an international student, what were your expectations about the status of women in the U.S. before starting this report? How do you think being an international student influenced your work?
Zhao: While I was an undergraduate, I was able to study American politics and culture, bolstered by academic and personal trips to California, Boston, and Florida. I predicted that the status of women on the West Coast and Northeast would be better than elsewhere in the country, as these areas were comparatively richer and more developed. Even though this was what I loosely anticipated, being an international student may make my research relatively more objective to some extent as I focus more on what the data show through an academic perspective without having many strong preconceived notions. Also, I was able to provide a different perspective when working with other researchers to come up with the indicators that would measure women’s status in our research.
Dan: What are some interesting findings from the report?
Zhao: I think it is interesting that the northeastern part of the U.S. performs best according to our measurement. I have lived in California and Boston for a while. I thought California would perform as well as the northeast, but it doesn’t. It reveals that there are still huge gender gaps in nearly every field. What is worse is that racial and class injustice compound gender inequalities.
Dan: How do class and racial inequities compound gender inequalities in the US?
Zhao: Generally speaking, women face more difficult situations than men on average. Furthermore, non-white women face more difficult situations on average than white women. According to our research, racial gaps are most noticeable for maternal mortality, college degree attainment, and representation in the state legislature. For example, the maternal mortality rate is 132 deaths per 100,000 live births among Black women in New Jersey, almost four times the rate of white women in the state. In 26 states, there are no Hispanic women represented in the state legislature; meanwhile, in 33 states, there are no Asian women represented in the state legislature. These disparities indicate the US has much work to do before women of color have equal opportunities and rights.
Dan: What do you think about the conclusions of the report? Was it better or worse than you expected?
Zhao: Generally speaking, the report’s conclusion is within my expectations: The northeastern, northern, and western states perform well and the middle and southern states perform worse. What saddens me is the big influence racial disparities have on the differences in the status of women and access to opportunities in many states. There is still much work to do to ensure that women and girls of all races and in all the states have the same rights and benefits that men have.
Photo by Anna Shvets.
