Mississippi women, you still cook the best fried chicken in the world. Most of you will never match my late maternal grandmother, Bessie Anders McDowell, in that regard. But, keep plugging.
Our women have always cared more for mankind than women in any other state.
Mississippi girls have always been among the best bream fishers on God’s waters. They know how to make the best coleslaw, too. Top that, women of Vermont or Utah.
There are many other virtues of a Mississippi woman, despite the fact they live in the worst possible place in America’s 50 states for a woman to exist, according to a nationwide survey of conditions for women by WalletHub, an online financial services company.
This revelation came recently during Women’s History Month via the Internet, the leading purveyor of distressing information on the world in which we live.
WalletHub rated issues like healthcare, money, social well-being and safety to score the 50 states and the District of Columbia on how well women fare.
“Mississippi ranked dead last. Notably, the state has poor health outcomes for women, leading to one of the worst life expectancy rates in the nation,” the survey calculated.
We must admit that Mississippi women, who comprise 52 percent of the state’s population, possess poor health outcomes in general, and that’s our own fault for electing to extremely high positions people more interested in politics than our people’s health outcomes.
Massachusetts came in as the best place for women to reside. They live longer and better lives for a reason that’s easy to guess — access to healthcare.
I won’t bore you with all of the 25 metrics used by WalletHub to measure women’s livability in each state — things like poverty rate, homicide records, education, links to regular doctors, women-owned businesses’ success rate, abortion access, obesity and life expectancy. But suffice it to report that Mississippi needs to do better by its women.
Mississippi nosed out Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louis-iana for the denotation of “worst place for women.”
If it makes you feel any better, know that Southeastern Conference-affiliated states hold eight of the 10 worst places for bad-off women in the nation.
Georgia is among the eight southern states in the top 10 for oppressed women’s lives despite Atlanta, surprising perhaps because it’s the dynamic hub of commerce and healthcare for a whole region of the country. But, you must understand that when you leave metro Atlanta, Georgia looks like the rest of our downtrodden Southern women’s world.
Overall for men and women, the life expectancy for a Mississippian is slightly more than 70 years. Our men generally live 67.7 years and our women 74.3. Consider yourself fortunate if you’ve passed those milestones.
Despite this joyless news, I have faith that Mississippi women will overcome whatever hurdles block their path to rewarding and productive lives.
I predict our women will continue to excel — following examples set by leaders like Dr. LouAnn Woodward, head of University Medical Center; Myrlie Evers, wife of the slain civil rights leader, Medgar Evers; Nora Miller, president of Mississippi University for Women; Bishop Sharma Lewis of the Mississippi United Methodist Conference; Katie Blount, director of the State Department of Archives and History; Cassandra Welchin, director of the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable; and Jenifer Branning, a member of the Mississippi Supreme Court.
I am not forgetting the indomitable Mississippi housewife who puts family above all else, the energetic working mothers, the soccer moms, the beloved teachers, the PTA presidents, the single working women, the moms who listen to everyone else’s troubles, the boss ladies, and each of our mothers and grandmothers — and all other Mississippi women we love and cherish.
Mac Gordon, a native of McComb, is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.
