Kentucky earns a "D" grade for political participation among women in a recently released report, but the state's overall results show a complex landscape.
Kentucky ranks 46th out of 50 states for its number of women holding elected office in the state, according to the Status of Women report released by The Institute for Women's Policy Research.
But women in the state take advantage of voting rights more than men, the study said.
Cynthia Hess, one of the study’s authors, said the state did well in some metrics of political participation.
“In Kentucky women are actually 13th in the nation for the percentage women of who register to vote and 26th for the percent who voted,” she said. “So, [it’s] one of the higher ranking states in terms of registration and in the middle in the percent who actually go to the polls.”
Hess said the state also does really well in providing institutional resources for women in politics—campaign training for women, having a state chapter of the national women’s political caucus, a women’s commission and other offerings.
Overall, though, women in Kentucky are struggling compared to men.
“Kentucky came out as—what we named—one of the worst states for women,” Hess said.
Kentucky tied with Tennessee for the No. 49 spot in the study's rankings, Hess said.
The state also got low scores for factors such as poverty, employment, safety and health of women compared to men.