In 1981, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution establishing National
Women’s History Week. The week was chosen to coincide with the
annual International Women’s Day, March 8. In 1987, Congress expanded
the week to a month; it has issued a resolution every year since then
proclaiming March to be Women’s History Month. The U.S. president
also issues an annual proclamation on this occasion.
Jobs
63%
Chances are your taxes will be prepared by a woman as this is the percentage
of tax preparers who are women.
83%
The likelihood of a woman helping you plan your next vacation also is
great, as this is the percentage of travel agents who are female.
97%
With Secretaries Day around the corner (April 21), it is worth noting
that this is the percentage of secretaries and administrative assistants
who are women.
250,000
Estimated number of female lawyers. About 16,000 are non-Hispanic black,
9,000 are non-Hispanic Asian and 11,000 are Hispanic. Among the 189,000
women physicians and surgeons, 13,000 are non-Hispanic black, 36,000
are non-Hispanic Asian and 10,000 are Hispanic. Of the 6,000 female
legislators, about 870 are non-Hispanic black, 110, non-Hispanic Asian
and 250, Hispanic.
78,000
Estimated number of female police officers. There also are more than
8,500 female firefighters.
57%
Percentage of advertising and promotions managers, public relations
managers and accountants and auditors who are women.
Women are employed in a wide range of occupations. Below are some examples:
Occupation |
No.
of
Employees |
Occupation |
No.
of
Employees |
|
|
|
|
Post-secondary teachers |
531,000 |
Architects |
39,000 |
Bus drivers |
253,000 |
Dancers and choreographers |
23,000 |
Chief executives |
212,000 |
Private detectives/investigators |
22,000 |
Bakers |
87,000 |
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers |
5,000 |
Athletes/coaches/umpires |
62,000 |
Astronomers and physicists |
3,000 |
Musicians/singers |
61,000 |
Explosives workers |
1,000 |
Clergy |
56,000 |
Ship/boat captains |
1,000 |
Producers and directors |
52,000 |
Nuclear engineers |
700 |
Chefs/head
cooks |
48,000 |
News analysts/reporters/
correspondents |
44,000 |
For more occupational data on women, go to <
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/eeoindex/page_c.html>
Earnings
$30,203
The median annual earnings of women age 15 and older who work full time,
year-round. After adjusting for inflation, earnings for these women had
climbed 1.8 percent in 2002. Earnings for their male counterparts rose
1.4 percent during the same period.
<
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/001371.html>
77 cents
For every $1 their male counterparts earn, that is the amount in 2002
women earned who worked full time, year-round. This ratio matches the
all-time high reached in 2001.
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/001371.html>
$2.9 million
Estimated work-life earnings of women with a professional degree (i.e.,
medical, law, dental or veterinarian) who work full time, year-round.
For women, like men, more education means higher career earnings. It is
estimated that women without a high school diploma would earn $700,000
during their work lives, increasing to $1 million if they had a high school
diploma and $1.6 million if they had a bachelor’s degree. <
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/000311.html>
Education
84.4%
The high school graduation rate for women age 25 and over in 2002. That
exceeded the rate for men (83.8 percent), the first statistical difference
between the two sexes since 1989.
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/000818.html>
23.9 million
Number of women (25 years and over) with a bachelor’s degree or
more in 2002, more than double the number of such women 20 years earlier.
<http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/education/tabA-1.pdf>
25.1%
Percentage of women 25 and over with a bachelor’s degree or more
in 2002, about 1 percentage point higher than the previous year. The
rate for men was 28.5 percent in 2002.
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/000818.html>