Minnesota: A State Gender Survey

 

It is difficult to measure the specific impacts of rigid gender norms with any precision across an entire state. Nonetheless, normative beliefs and biases work together across institutions, people, and time to contract opportunity and limit life outcomes, creating material and measurable impacts on society as a whole. Many of these disproportionately affect women and girls, particularly in low-income communities or communities of color. As the Women’s Foundations of Minnesota’s authoritative 2014 report “Status of Women & Girls in Minnesota” found, women and girls across the state often experience lower outcomes when it comes to education, leadership, and economic empowerment. This paper is devoted to exploring the specific impacts of gender norms in several key areas of youth development.