Women in Kentucky: A Documented Profile.

A study was conducted in Kentucky to increase the database available to the state's decision makers concerning women in relation to family status, occupational participation, income and earnings, and issues and concerns that may need greater emphases. Data were gathered through Kentucky government agencies and the U.S. Bureau of the Census as well as several papers, reports, and unpublished tabulations from the Current Population Survey. Some of the highlights of the research findings are the following: (1) women 65 years and older make up the fastest growing age group among women in the state since 1980; (2) in 1990, for all persons over age 25, 40 percent of women and 37 percent of men had finished only 12 years of school, and 13 percent of women and nearly 18 percent of men had completed at least 16 years of school; (3) the proportion of separated and divorced women has increased steadily since 1980 to more than 12 percent in 1990; (4) the number of births to teenage mothers in Kentucky increased 5.5 percent from 1988 to 1989; (5) the proportion of births to women aged 30 and older increased from 15.7 percent in 1980 to 21.6 percent in 1989; (6) in 1990, 15.7 percent of all Kentucky family households were families headed by women; (7) more than one-half of the children in Kentucky's female-headed families are poor; and (8) an estimated 56 percent of Kentucky women, age 16 and older, were either employed or looking for work in 1990. (The document includes 15 tables, 14 figures, a list of 26 references, an explanation of the research methodology, and a glossary defining 31 terms.) (KC)