Report Shows Issues Affecting Louisville Metro Women

Louisville’s Women 4 Women organization has released its most recent report on trends affecting women in the area, showing Louisville still trails many peer cities in one critical area.The 20-year-old organization released its Study of Louisville Women and Girls report Thursday, following up to a similar study from 2000 that looked at health, education, family status and finances among area. Surprisingly, said executive director Gwen Cooper, not much has changed in the past decade, which is likely due to the recession.Here are some quick notes on what has changed:Schools are a good place to start to address all the issues, said Cooper“There are 13 states in the country that require some form of financial literacy testing to graduate high school. We’re not one of them. Maybe we should be one of them," she said.Of 15 similarly-sized cities, Louisville ranked 11th in women over 25 who earn a bachelors degree or higher. Since 2000, the number of women with degrees rose six points, to 29 percent.Women 4 Women is now trying to strengthen its role in Louisville. This summer, the organization will launch a new website and introduce its new initiative to be the single voice in the community for women’s issues, said Cooper.The site will include health tips: