WASHINGTON – Women in Maine received top marks in political participation, but continue to earn less than their counterparts in half of the nation’s states, according to a state-by-state survey on the status of women released this week by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

The study evaluates the politics, economics and health of women in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

With two women senators, Maine’s top grades in political participation were based on the state’s relatively high levels of women in elected office, the study said.

Felicia Knight, a spokesperson for Sen. Susan Collins, attributes Maine women’s high political participation rates to role models such as the late Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, who won a U.S. Senate seat in 1948.

“With Margaret Chase Smith, there was no chance for women to say they can’t [run for office],” she said.

With 28 percent of its state Legislature seats filled by women, Maine far exceeds the percentage of women in the U.S. Senate, 9 percent, and has elected a female Speaker of the House.

“In Maine and New England, the prospect of women being involved in politics is not foreign to women or the population,” said Knight.

Two other New England states, Connecticut and Vermont, received a top-10 rank in political participation.

While women in Maine were among the most likely in the country to vote and to run for office, their annual earnings fell $3,000 below the national average, the study said.

With an annual median income of $22,177, women in Maine earned less than all of their neighbors in New England, including women in Connecticut and Massachusetts, who received 5th- and 6th-place earnings rankings, respectively.

Such a ranking may be attributed to the state’s below-average percentages of women with four or more years of college and women-owned businesses.

Within the state, 17.2 percent of women have four or more years of college and 32.2 percent of businesses are women-owned, both of which are slightly below the national average.

On the issue of health and well-being, women in Maine ranked 21st in the nation. The nearby states of Connecticut and Massachusetts tied for a 10th-place national ranking.

While statistics revealed that Maine had a high lung cancer mortality rate, the state boasted very low numbers of chlamydia and AIDS cases, as well as low rates of suicide.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a public policy research organization focusing on issues concerning women and their families, released two prior series of reports on the status of women in 1996 and 1998.