{"id":2376,"date":"2026-06-15T21:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T21:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2376"},"modified":"2026-06-15T21:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T21:04:00","slug":"colorado-women-face-financial-inequality-and-worry-most-over-high-costs-survey-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2376","title":{"rendered":"Colorado women face financial inequality and worry most over high costs, survey reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at rmpbs.org.<\/em><\/p>\n

DENVER<\/strong> | Johnitta Medina started her vegan soul food business, Momma Jah\u2019s, during the pandemic, expanding to catering a couple of years later.<\/p>\n

She aims to buy food locally, preferably from farms owned by women or people of color. But rising prices are taking their toll.<\/p>\n

\u201cA case of cauliflower that was once $32 was $54 today,\u201d she said Tuesday. \u201cThe huge fluctuations that all of us are seeing in every single market that exists creates that anxiety and that fear and that sense of instability, because there\u2019s no predictability at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Medina isn\u2019t alone.<\/p>\n

Colorado women are concerned about financial inequality and high costs for necessities, a new survey indicates. Respondents also said they feel they have fewer rights and career opportunities than men.<\/p>\n

\u201cColorado women are not struggling because they aren\u2019t working hard enough,\u201d said Renee Ferrufino, president and CEO of The Women\u2019s Foundation of Colorado, which commissioned the survey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are facing real structural barriers to financial security, to personal safety, and to health care, and those barriers are getting harder to clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of those surveyed, 63% said they\u2019d be more likely to support a political candidate who makes \u201cadvancing equality and opportunity for all Colorado women a top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Women\u2019s Foundation of Colorado and Aspect Strategies conducted the survey of 725 women between April 27 and May 4. The poll has a 3.6% margin of error, meaning results could be 3.6% higher or lower.<\/p>\n

Rocky Mountain PBS will partner with The Women\u2019s Foundation of Colorado and the Colorado Women\u2019s Chamber of Commerce to moderate \u201cWomen Decide: A Governor\u2019s Forum\u201d Sunday, June 7, at 7 p.m. The free, virtual forum will stream live on Zoom and the RMPBS YouTube channel and feature questions based on the survey results.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen are the ones that hold everything together,\u201d said Beth Hendrix, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Colorado. Both nationally and in Colorado women tend to vote at higher rates than men both nationally and in Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen are the traditional caregivers. And I think that that extends even to a neighborhood, city, county, state, federal\u201d level, she said.<\/p>\n

Economic concerns focus on housing, health care<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some 84% of the women surveyed said the high cost of living is outpacing their income. Nearly half said they\u2019d had to cut back on retirement savings (47%) or used credit for basic expenses (46%) when offered a list of 10 ways they\u2019re coping with the higher costs. And 41% said they\u2019d skipped or delayed medical care.<\/p>\n

Nearly 60% said they\u2019d be worried about paying for basic needs such as housing, utilities or groceries if faced with an unexpected $500 expense. More than one-third had skipped or delayed a bill payment in the past year.<\/p>\n

Judith Alvarez is among those facing difficult choices. The Glenwood Springs woman works two jobs to support herself and her teenage son. She makes too much to qualify for Medicaid, so she and her son don\u2019t have health insurance. And she\u2019s put off medical treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2015, they detected a fibroma, which is a benign tumor in the uterus, and every year it\u2019s been growing and I haven\u2019t had it operated,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cIt could be out of fear, but also because it\u2019s going to cost about $60,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado women earn 81 cents for every dollar earned by men, and the median income for white women ($62,000) was considerably higher than for Black women ($47,000) or Latinas ($43,000). That\u2019s according to a study by the State Policy Action Lab in partnership with The Women\u2019s Foundation of Colorado released earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen prices go up, it\u2019s the most vulnerable who are affected the most, and women tend to be among the most vulnerable, especially when you\u2019re talking about the single moms,\u201d Hendrix said.<\/p>\n

Alvarez agreed, noting the high cost of living in the Roaring Fork Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf the women that I know, they all support their homes, it doesn\u2019t matter if they have a husband or not, they pay half of everything,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s because life is so expensive in these parts. Everyone has to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

An unequal system<\/p>\n

More than half the women surveyed \u2014 63% \u2014 said they have fewer rights and opportunities than men. Of those, 48% said the gap between men and women has grown in the past decade.<\/p>\n

Caregiving for others and lack of career advancement opportunities prevented more than a quarter of the women surveyed from getting ahead financially in the last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like you have to work twice as hard to be in the same exact place,\u201d Medina said.<\/p>\n

When asked about how they were doing compared with men in different areas, women said they were doing worse when it came to:<\/p>\n