Montana

A number of Native American tribes, including the Cheyenne, Crow, and Blackfeet, lived in Montana before it became part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. It was not until 1889 that Montana was admitted into the Union, and is the fourth largest state, after Alaska, California, and Texas. In the state, the birth rate is 13.2, well below the national average of 14.1, and the fertility rate is 2.1 children per woman, only slightly more than the U.S. average. There are, on average, 2.4 people per household in the state, lower than the U.S. average of 2.6 people. Single-parent households (children under 18 years and one adult) represented 7.6 of households in the state. In 2007, the divorce rate was 4.9 percent.

In 2008, 63 percent of women were in the civilian labor force. Montana's economy remains heavily dependent on the agricultural sector, and the average income in the state is about half the national average—only three states have a lower average income. In 2007, Montana had an average per capita income of $32,458 (ranking 41st among U.S. states), mean household income of $43,531 (ranking 39th), an unemployment rate of 3.1 percent (ranking 43rd), and a poverty rate of 14.1 percent (ranking 16th). As a result, although the health care system and midwifery services are sufficient in the major cities such as Billings and Helena, the state capital, there is far less access to maternity services in the country. Women in Montana have been found to have one of the lowest rates of access to reproductive technology.

There are, however, some positive statistics. Compulsory education was introduced in 1883 for all children between the ages of 7 and 16, and literacy in the state has ensured that most people have access to family planning and maternity advice. In towns, many also have extended families with older female members such as mothers and aunts, able to help women with birthing and maternity care. All metropolitan areas have an abortion provider but 91 percent of counties do not. The abortion rate in 2005 was 11.7 per 1,000 women aged 15–44, down from 20.7 per 1,000 in 1991. The predominantly rural society has also seen the emergence of many strong role models. Ella Haskell (1860–1911) was the first woman in the United States to run for the position of State Attorney General in 1892, 22 years before women in Montana received the right to vote.

Jeanette Rankin (1880–1973) was the first woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1916; her mother, a schoolteacher originally from New England, was a large influence on her career. Actor Gary Cooper (1901–61) was born in Helena, and his mother, a strong-willed woman from England, was unhappy with the quality of education in Montana and sent the young Gary (then Frank James Cooper) and his brother to school in England, before they returned to their parents' ranch. Another actor from Montana was Andrea Leeds (1914–84), from Butte, who managed to combine an acting career, and afterward breeding horses, with bringing up two children.

...