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 during 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.
152 million
The number of females in the United States as of Nov. 1, 2006. That
exceeds the number of males (148 million). <http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/2005_nat_res.html>
As of July 1, 2005, males outnumbered females in every five-year
age group through the 35 to 39 age group. Starting with the 40 to
44 age group, women outnumbered men. At 85 and over, there were more
than twice as many women as men. <http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/NC-EST2005-sa.html>
Motherhood
82.5 million
Estimated number of mothers of all ages in the United States. (From
unpublished data.)
1.9
Average number of children that women 40 to 44 had given birth to
as of 2004, down from 3.1 children in 1976, the year the Census Bureau
began collecting such data. Likewise, the percentage of women in this
age group who were mothers was 81 percent in 2004, down from 90 percent
in 1976. <http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/fertility.html>
Earnings
$32,168
The median annual earnings of women 16 or older who worked year-round,
full time, in 2005. Women earned 77 cents for every $1 earned by men.
(Source: American Community Survey at <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/007419.html>)
91 cents
The amount women in the District of Columbia, who worked year-round,
full time, earned for every $1 their male counterparts earned in 2005.
Among all states or state equivalents, the district was where women
were closest to earnings parity with men. Maryland and Connecticut
were the only states where median earnings for women were above $40,000,
as was the District of Columbia. (Source: American Community Survey
at <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/007419.html>)
$58,906
Median earnings of women working in computer and mathematical jobs,
the highest for women among the 22 major occupational groups. Among
these groups, community and social services was the only group where
women’s earnings as a percentage of men’s earnings were
higher than 90 percent. (Source: American Community Survey at <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/007419.html>)
Education
32%
Percent of women 25 to 29 who had attained a bachelor’s degree
or higher in 2005, which exceeded that of men in this age range (25
percent). Eighty-seven percent of women and 85 percent of men in this
same age range had completed high school. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/007660.html>
85.4%
Percent of women 25 or older who had completed high school as of 2005.
High school graduation rates for women continued to exceed those of
men (84.9 percent). <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/007660.html>
26.1 million
Number of women 25 or older with a bachelor’s degree or more
education in 2005, more than double the number 20 years earlier. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/007660.html>
27%
Percent of women 25 or older who had obtained a bachelor’s degree
as of 2005. This rate was up 10.5 percentage points from 20 years
earlier. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/007660.html>
870,000
The projected number of bachelor’s degrees that will be awarded
to women in the 2006-07 school year. Women also are projected to earn
369,000 master’s degrees during this period. Women would, therefore,
earn 58 percent of the bachelor’s and 61 percent of the master’s
degrees awarded during this school year. (Source: National Center
for Education Statistics, Projections of Education Statistics to 2015,
at <http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006084>)
Businesses
More than $939 billion
Revenue for women-owned businesses in 2002, up 15 percent from 1997.
There were 116,985 women-owned firms with receipts of $1 million or
more.
Nearly 6.5 million
The number of women-owned businesses in 2002, up 20 percent from 1997.
(The increase was twice the national average for all businesses.)
Women owned 28 percent of all non-farm businesses.
More than 7.1 million
Number of people employed by women-owned businesses. There were 7,231
women-owned firms with 100 or more employees, generating $274 billion
in gross receipts.
• Nearly one in three women-owned firms 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 38.2 percent of women-owned
business revenue.
43%
Rate of growth in the number of women-owned firms in Nevada between
1997 and 2002, which led the nation. Georgia (35 percent), Florida
(29 percent) and New York (28 percent) followed.
Source for the statements in this section:
<http://www.census.gov/prod/ec02/sb0200cswmnt.pdf>
<http://www.census.gov/prod/ec02/sb0200cscosumt.pdf>
Voting
65%
Percentage of women citizens who reported voting in the 2004 presidential
election, higher than the 62 percent of their male counterparts who
cast a ballot. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/voting/004986.html>
Jobs
59%
Percent of women 16 or older who participated in the labor force in
2005. This amounted to 69.3 million women. More than 35 million women
in 2005 had worked year-round, full time, in the past 12 months. Men
in this age range had a participation rate of 73 percent. (Sources:
<http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat2.pdf>
and 2005 American Community Survey via American
FactFinder.)
37%
Percent of women 16 or older who work in management, professional
and related occupations, compared with 31 percent of men. (Source:
2005 American Community Survey via American
FactFinder)
21.1 million
Number of female workers in educational services, health care and
social assistance industries. More women work in this industry group
than in any other. Within this industry group, 10.7 million work in
the health care industry and 8 million in educational services. (Source:
2005 American Community Survey via American
FactFinder)
Military
203,000
Total number of active duty women in the military, as of Sept. 30,
2005. Of that total, 35,000 women were officers, and 168,000 were
enlisted.
(Source: Statistical
Abstract of the United States: 2007, Table 500.)
15%
Proportion of members of the armed forces who were women, as of Sept.
30, 2005. In 1950, women comprised less than 2 percent.
(Source: Statistical
Abstract of the United States: 2007, Table 500.)
1.7 million
The number of military veterans who are women.
(Source: Statistical
Abstract of the United States: 2007, Table 508.)
Marriage
63 million
Number of married women (including those who are separated or have
an absent spouse) in 2005. There are 55 million unmarried (widowed,
divorced or never married) women. (Source: 2005 American Community
Survey via American
FactFinder)
17%
Percentage of married couples in which the wife earns at least $5,000
more than the husband in 2005. Among 22 percent of married couples,
the wife has more education than the husband. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/families_households/006840.html>
5.6 million
Number of stay-at-home mothers nationwide in 2005, up from 4.4 million
a decade earlier. <http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/shp1.pdf>
Computers
84%
Proportion of women who used a computer at home in 2003, 2 percentage
points higher than the corresponding proportion for men. This reverses
the computer use “gender gap” exhibited during the 1980s
and 1990s. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/miscellaneous/005863.html>
Sports and Recreation
2.9 million
Number of girls who participated in high school athletic programs
in the 2004-05 school year. In the 1973-74 school year, only 1.3 million
girls were members of a high school athletic team. (Source: Statistical
Abstract of the United States: 2007, Table 1232.)
166,728
Number of women who participated in an NCAA sport in 2004-05.
(Source: Statistical
Abstract of the United States: 2007, Table 1234.)
85%
Among those who purchased aerobic shoes in 2004, the proportion who
were women. Women also comprised a majority (64 percent) of those
who bought walking shoes.
(Source: Statistical
Abstract of the United States: 2007, Table 1237.)
57%
Percentage of women who participated in gardening at least once in
the past 12 months, compared with 37 percent of men. Women were also
much more likely than men to have done charity work (32 percent versus
26 percent), attended arts and crafts fairs (39 percent versus 27
percent) and read literature (55 percent versus 38 percent).
(Source: Statistical
Abstract of the United States: 2007, Tables 1221, 1222 and
1223.)