The status of women in Wisconsin lags behind other states, according to a report card released Tuesday by the Institute for Women's Policy Research.
Some in Madison said the relatively low ratings are the result of the political climate in Wisconsin over the past several years.
The IWPR report card examined five areas: political participation, employment and earnings, social and economic autonomy, reproductive rights and health and well-being.
The area that received the lowest grade for Wisconsin was women's reproductive rights with an F, which is based on the lack of public funding for abortions, lack of abortion providers and the lack of insurance coverage for contraceptives and infertility treatments. The report also cited that Wisconsin restricts lesbians from adopting their partner's baby.
\[The failing grade] is a consequence of the fact that for the past 16 years we've had a governor who does not support women's access to reproductive healthcare and education. Those 16 years are now catching up with us,"" said Paige Shipman, legislative director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.
Janet Hynes, UW-Madison professor of women's studies, said she agrees that government policies limit reproductive rights.
""The far right has been very powerful in many states, including Wisconsin,"" she said. ""They can exert a powerful influence.""
As a result, women face harsh restrictions, according to Shipman.
""In terms of abortion, we have some of the most draconian and restrictive laws in the country,"" she said. ""But the main issue here is not just about abortion but access to reproductive health care and sexuality education in general.""
Wisconsin earned grades in the C range for all of the other categories.
""I think that [the ratings] are important for the citizens of Wisconsin to know about because we think we're such a great state, and we are a great state, but we've been losing ground on women's issues over the last 10 years or so,"" Hynes said.
Nationally, some of the areas have been steadily improving since the first study done in 1996, said Katie O'Niell, IWPR's communication coordinator.
""There's been an increase in women's wages in terms of their ratio to men's wages, but that's not really because women's wages are going up, but because men's wages are going down,"" she said.
According to O'Niell, men's wages are dropping because men more often work blue-collar jobs that have a higher incidence of layoffs.
However, in other categories such as political participation, the IWPR has found a decline since the study began, O'Niell said.
The states that received the highest rankings were mostly in the northeast, while the lowest ranking states were predominantly in the south.
""The level of income is greater in the northeast,"" O'Niell said. ""In the south, there's just a lot of poverty and it affects women as well as men.\
