As Asian Pacific American Heritage Month draws to a close, I thought it was worth revisiting a few statistics from The Portrait Project about Asian women in the Washington region. While these data are a few years old now, they still serve to remind us of the divide that exists in our region within all racial and ethnic groups—and of the need for an organization like The Women’s Foundation, which is attempting to be a bridge across the divide.
When The Portrait Project was released in 2003. . .
- Asian women’s median annual earnings in each jurisdiction of the Washington metropolitan region exceeded the median annual earnings of $27,194 for women nationally. In the region, Asian women’s median annual earnings ranged from $29,804 to $38,370. In four out of six local jurisdictions, Asian women’s earnings outpaced the national figure for this group by at least $2,773 (Fairfax County), and upwards to $7,321 (District of Columbia).
- Yet, Asian women had the second highest poverty rates of all women in the region at 8.9 percent. And, elderly Asian women in Alexandria and Arlington had the highest poverty rates of all women in every jurisdiction at 42.1 percent and 37.4 percent respectively (compared to Montgomery, Prince George’s, Arlington, Fairfax and Alexandria).
- One of the largest wage gaps existed between Asian women and men’s median annual earnings. Asian women’s earnings in the region ranged from being 68 percent of Asian men’s earnings in Fairfax County ($33,822 for women compared to $49,589 for men) to 88 percent of their earnings in the District of Columbia ($38,370 compared to $43,646 for men).
- 56 percent of Asian women in the region had some sort of college degree. Yet, 17- 21 percent of Asian women in our region lacked a high school diploma.
Clearly, there is much work to be done in bridging the divide. It is through our existing partnerships with Grantee Partners such as ASHA, Boat People SOS and Chinatown Service Center–and through new partnerships–that we can begin to make progress.
