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Women’s History Month: March 2010 National Women’s History Month’s roots go back to March 8, 1857, when women from New York City factories staged a protest over working conditions. International Women’s Day was first observed in 1909, but it wasn’t until 1981 that Congress established National Women’s History Week to be commemorated the second week of March. In 1987, Congress expanded the week to a month. Every year since, Congress has passed a resolution for Women’s History Month, and the president has issued a proclamation.
154.7
million
-The
number of females in the United States as of Oct. 1, 2008.
The number of males was 150.6 million.
At 85 and
older, there were more than twice as many women as men.
Motherhood
1.9
- Average
number of children that women 40 to 44 had given birth to
as of 2006, down from 3.1 children in 1976, the year the
Census Bureau began collecting such data. The percentage of
women in this age group who were mothers was 80 percent in
2006, down from 90 percent in 1976.
Earnings
$49,364
-
Median
earnings of women in 2007 in the District of Columbia, a
total not statistically different from the men. In all of the
50 states, women had lower earnings than the men. The
District of Columbia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland
and New Jersey were the only states or equivalents where
median earnings for women were greater than $40,000.
$61,957
-
Median
earnings of women working in computer and mathematical jobs,
the highest among the 26 major occupational groups. In the
installation, maintenance and repair occupations and
community and social services group, women’s earnings
as a percentage of men’s earnings were higher than 90
percent.
Education
28.2
million -
Number of
women 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more
education in 2007, more than double the number 20 years
earlier.
28% - Percent of women 25 and older who had obtained a bachelor’s degree or more as of 2007. This rate was up 11 percentage points from 20 years earlier. Source: Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007 < http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/011196.html>
928,000
-
The
projected number of bachelor’s degrees that will be
awarded to women in the 2008-09 school year. Women are also
projected to earn 391,000 master’s degrees during this
period. Women would, therefore, earn 58 percent of the
bachelor’s and 60 percent of the master’s degrees
awarded during this school year. In addition, women would
earn nearly 50 percent of first-professional degrees, such as
law and medical.
Businesses
More than $939 billion - Revenue for women-owned businesses in 2002. There were 116,985 women-owned businesses with receipts of $1 million or more. Nearly 6.5 million - The number of women-owned businesses in 2002. Women owned 28 percent of all nonfarm businesses. More than 7.1 million - Number of people employed by women-owned businesses. There were 7,231 women-owned businesses with 100 or more employees, generating $274 billion in gross receipts. Nearly one in three women-owned businesses operated in health care and social assistance, and other services, such as personal services, and repair and maintenance. Women owned 72 percent of social assistance businesses and just over half of nursing and residential care facilities. Wholesale and retail trade accounted for 38 percent of women-owned business revenue. 13% - Percentage of women-owned businesses in California, which had the most women-owned businesses at 870,496. New York was second with 505,077 or 8 percent of all businesses. Texas was third in number of businesses with 468,705, accounting for 7 percent of all businesses.
Voting
49%
-
Percentage
of female citizens who voted in the 2006 congressional
elections, compared with 47 percent of men.
Jobs
38%
-
Percent of
females 16 or older who worked in management, professional
and related occupations, compared with 32 percent of males.
22.5
million -
Number of
female workers in educational services, health care and
social assistance industries. More women worked in this
industry group than in any other. Within this industry group,
11.2 million worked in the health care industry and 8.6
million in educational services.
62% - Chances are that your taxes will be prepared by a woman, as this was the percentage of tax preparers who were women in 2007. In addition, 75 percent of travel agents were women. Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009, Table 596. < http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
94,000
-
Number of
female police officers across the country in 2007. In
addition, there were about 14,000 women firefighters, 330,000
lawyers, 266,000 physicians and surgeons, and 36,000 pilots.
(Note: Number of pilots pertains to 2006.)
Military
14%
-
Proportion
of members of the armed forces who were women, as of Sept.
30, 2007. In 1950, women comprised less than 2 percent.
1.8
million -
The number
of military veterans who were women in 2007.
Marriage
23%
-
Percentage
of married couples in which the wife had more education than
the husband in 2007.
5.6
million -
Number of
stay-at-home mothers nationwide in 2007, up from 4.6 million
a decade earlier.
Sports
174,534
-
Number of
women who participated in a National Collegiate Athletic
Association sport in 2006-07.
Editor’s note:The preceding data were collected from a variety of sources and may be subject to sampling variability and other sources of error. Facts for Features are customarily released about two months before an observance in order to accommodate magazine production timelines. Questions or comments should be directed to the Census Bureau’s Public Information Office: telephone: 301-763-3030; fax: 301-763-3762; or e-mail: <pio@census.gov>. [Excel] or the letters [xls] indicate a document is in the Microsoft® Excel® Spreadsheet Format (XLS). To view the file, you will need the Microsoft® Excel® Viewer available for free from Microsoft®. This symbol indicates a link to a non-government web site. Our linking to these sites does not constitute an endorsement of any products, services or the information found on them. Once you link to another site you are subject to the policies of the new site. |
