Progress in millennial women’s health and well-being is backsliding, report says

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Things are not necessarily better for American women today than they were for their mothers and grandmothers, according to a new report. The Population Reference Bureau created an index of women’s well-being that looks at factors such as poverty, education, political representation, as well as physical and mental health. Experts say progress is no longer just stalled — it’s now actively in decline.??

WHAT THE DATA SHOWS?

• The index was created to compare the status of different generations of US women at the same stage of life — around ages 25 to 34. The report’s lead author says while there have been some areas of generation-to-generation improvement, millennials are the first generation of women to see declines in overall well-being since the so-called Silent Generation — those who were born between 1928 and 1945 and lived through the Great Depression and World War II.
• The homicide rate for millennial women increased compared with Generation X, according to the data. Suicide rates have nearly doubled from Gen Xers to millennials, while maternal mortality rates have risen dramatically, the report shows.?
• Report says the homicide rate is “particularly stark” for millennial Black women: There were 14 deaths per 100,000 women from 2019-2021 compared to 9 per 100,000 from 1999-2001 — a nearly 60% increase.
• Black maternal mortality is also more than twice the US national average, and Black and Hispanic students were less likely to receive subsidies for college than their White peers of similar economic status, the report says.?
• Affordable, quality health care is particularly a problem in rural communities. A 28-year-old mother of the Chippewa Nation — who is raising three biological children, a stepchild and her two sisters after the death of their mother — says doctors will often come into town to pay off their student debt but then move on to a bigger city. “You can’t really build a relationship with doctors that are continuously cycling out,” she says, adding mental health care is also hard to find.

POLICIES AT PLAY

• While there’s not just one reason why millennial women are experiencing this decline in well-being, the report’s lead author points to certain policies like rolling back of reproductive health care protections, which she says various studies have found increases risk of maternal mortality and potentially also suicide rates.
• The report notes that while women's access to contraception and family planning resources has expanded over the past 50 years, reproductive decision-making options for women have been restricted substantially since the previous report.?
• In fact, the report says that Gen Z girls and women (which it defines as those born in 2000 or later) will become the first group in five generations “to navigate young adulthood without the reproductive health protections available to the youngest members of the Silent Generation when they were the same age.”

SOME GOOD NEWS

• There are now more women who have earned at least a bachelor’s degree: 44% of young millennial women completed a college education compared to 28% percent of their Gen X peers, though the report notes that gaps persist by race and ethnicity.?
• The incarceration rate for women has declined for the first time in more than 50 years, falling 19% during the 2019-2021 period compared with 1999-2001, the report finds.?
• Young millennial women’s earnings as a percentage of men’s have increased compared to the wages of their Gen X peers, but the gender wage gap persists. The report says even in female-dominated occupations such as teaching, nursing and customer service, women today earn less than their male counterparts.?

Are you facing these challenges yourself or seeing them in your community? What are the major factors that affect your health and well-being? Share your story in the comments.?

Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters. Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

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