Women’s Well-Being Index

What is the California Women’s Well-Being Index?
The California Budget & Policy Center created the California Women’s Well-Being Index, which is a multifaceted, composite measure that consists of five “dimensions”: Health, Personal Safety, Employment & Earnings, Economic Security, and Political Empowerment.  Each dimension is composed of six indicators that have been standardized and combined to create dimension scores, on a scale from zero to 100, for each of California’s 58 counties. The five dimension scores have been combined to create an overall Women’s Well-Being Index score for each county.

Why is women’s well-being important?
“When women thrive, their families and communities prosper.  Yet despite decades of progress, women still face persistent disparities on a range of issues, from economic security to health to participation in political leadership.  By viewing women’s well-being as encompassing various distinct yet interrelated components, policymakers, advocates, service providers, and community members can begin to craft policy solutions that help make California a place where all women and their families can thrive” (California Budget & Policy Center, March 2016).

The trends
Los Angeles County is overall ranked 31st out of 58 California counties in women’s well-being.  In comparison to its adjacent counties, Los Angeles is ranked above San Bernardino and Kern but below Orange and Ventura Counties.

Propel L.A. Analysis has identified a significant statistic in each of the five dimensions: