The report, released in October, found that 65% of Maryland women age 16 and older were in the labor force, compared with 73% of men. Overall, 68% of the state’s civilian, non-institutionalized population was working or actively seeking work.

The analysis also points to the economic toll of federal job cuts that began in early 2025. Nearly 30,000 Marylanders lost federal jobs amid the layoffs and project terminations, and Black women may have been disproportionately affected because they were overrepresented in some federal departments that faced large cuts.

Ronicsa Chambers, a former Federal Aviation Administration diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility manager, was among those abruptly placed on administrative leave. She later returned to the agency in a different role, after 377 days without work. During that period, she helped build a community with other women affected by the layoffs.

The report cites national estimates that federal cuts had reduced Black women’s federal employment by 25% by August 2025. Women make up half of Maryland’s federal workforce, according to the analysis.

Comptroller Brooke Lierman said the report is the first broad statewide analysis of women’s participation in Maryland’s economy. Her office held nine roundtables with more than 200 women to hear about barriers to economic opportunity.

Those barriers vary across the state. In parts of Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore, residents pointed to fewer job and higher-education opportunities, limited public transportation and child care, and expectations that women take on caregiving and other unpaid work.

Ariana Kelly, executive director of the Maryland Commission for Women, said the state’s caregiving economy deserves greater recognition, both because many women work in often underpaid care jobs and because women are frequently expected to provide care in their own families.

The report says expanded remote and hybrid work options, along with paid family leave, could help women stay in the workforce. Maryland is scheduled to begin offering paid family leave benefits statewide in 2027.

Other disparities are pronounced among people with less formal education and those who are not proficient in English. Among Marylanders ages 25 to 64 without a high school diploma, 81% of men were in the workforce, compared with 57% of women. For people not proficient in English, the participation rate was 91% for men and 59% for women.

Women are also more likely to work part time in sectors such as hospitality, retail and personal care, where jobs may not include health insurance or other benefits, the report said. Although women account for 80% of Maryland’s health care workforce and 67% of its educational services workers, they remain less represented in the highest-earning positions in those industries.

The report also highlights gains: Women accounted for 58% of new business startups in Maryland from 2019 through 2023. Lierman said recognizing women’s economic contributions and the obstacles they face should not depend on whether a woman holds the comptroller’s office.

Chambers said the sudden disruption left skilled workers unable to do their jobs and affected families and communities beyond those directly laid off. Thousands of former federal workers, she said, have not returned to their positions.