LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Greater Louisville Project is using numbers to narrate barriers women face. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Greater Louisville Project compares the city’s performance to its peer cities

  • Its recent research focuses on gender equity

  • It shows women make less money and own fewer homes than men

  • The goal is to shed light that will fuel action to address these issues

The Greater Louisville Project is using numbers to narrate barriers women face. Data scientist Harrison Kirby says GLP’s Raising the Status of Women gender equity data focuses on understanding the connection between homeownership, affordable housing, and economic security. 

“Our goal with the data was to do two things one is to create a resource to provide data on a topic that we don’t talk about nearly enough as a community,” said Kirby. 

The team broke the numbers down by household factors including gender, race, age, and income. “We found that when we looked at how this impacted women, in particular, is that many women living on their own and particularly living with kids don’t have access to the kind of living wage jobs that they need in order to have economic security for themselves and their families,” Kirby said. 

Kirby says around 40% of women earn enough money to cover their basic living expenses. “But that’s true for only one in four women living alone with a kid and next to no women living alone with two or more children,” she added. 

GLP research shows Louisville is sixth to last in homeownership for women with children compared to peer cities. Kirby says these rates are more severe among black women. “When you look at the homeownership rate among say black women living on their own with children it’s nearly 10% and that seems incredibly low when you think about the stability and intergenerational wealth that can come with home ownership,” Kirby explained. 

Louisville Urban League President Dr. Kish Cumi Price was a panelist in a discussion following the data presentation. She says it is crucial to look at the research through the lens of race and gender. “When we talk about how to address those things we have to start at that intersection otherwise it’s not a discussion, it’s a waste of time,” said Price. 

Kirby says these statistics are more just numbers. They tell a story. “The story in this data is we need to be invested in creating an economy that works for everyone so that everyone including women, women living on their own, women living with children, black women, everyone can participate in our economy and live with financial security,” she said.  

She hopes the data sheds light that will fuel action to address these issues. 

This was the first of four Raising the Status of Women presentations.  

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