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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.
155.8 million
The number of females in
the United States as of Oct. 1, 2009. The number of males was 151.8 million.
Source:
Population estimates <http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/2008-nat-res.html>
At 85 and older, there were more than twice as many
women as men.
Source: Population estimates <http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/NC-EST2008-sa.html>
Motherhood
82.8 million
Estimated number of mothers of
all ages in the United States.
Source: Unpublished data from Survey of Income
and Program Participation.
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 had given birth was 80 percent in 2006, down from 90
percent in 1976.
Source: Fertility of American Women: 2006 <http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p20-558.pdf>
Earnings
$35,745
The median annual earnings of
women 15 or older who worked year-round, full time, in 2008, down from $36,451
in 2007 (after adjusting for inflation). Women earned 77 cents for every $1
earned by men.
Source: Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the
United States: 2008
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/014227.html>
88 percent
The ratio of women’s-to-men’s
earnings in the District of Columbia in 2008, among the highest of any state or
state equivalent in the nation along with California, Arizona, Maryland, New
York, Vermont, Georgia and Hawaii.
Source: Men’s and Women’s Earnings by
State: 2008 American Community Survey
<http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads/men_women_earnings.pdf>
Education
29.4 million
Number of women 25 and older
with a bachelor’s degree or more education in 2008, higher than the
corresponding number for men (28.4 million). Women had a larger share of high
school diplomas, as well as associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. More
men than women had a professional or doctoral degree.
Source: Educational
Attainment in the United States: 2008 <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/013618.html>
29%
Percent of women 25 and older
who had obtained a bachelor’s degree or more as of 2008.
Source: Educational
Attainment in the United States: 2008 <http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/education/cps2008/tabA-2.xls>
55%
Percentage of college students
in fall 2008 who were women.
Source: School Enrollment in the United States:
2008 <http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/school/cps2008/tab01-01.xls>
Businesses
Source for the statements in this section:
Women-Owned
Firms: 2002 <http://www.census.gov/prod/ec02/sb0200cswmnt.pdf>
and
Company Summary: 2002 <http://www.census.gov/prod/ec02/sb0200cscosumt.pdf>
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; 916,657 of these were employer firms.
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 women-owned businesses.
Texas was third in number with 468,705, accounting for 7 percent of all
women-owned businesses.
Note: The 2007 Preliminary Estimates of Business
Ownership by Gender, Ethnicity, and Race will be available in July 2010 and the
more detailed 2007 Women-Owned Businesses report will be published in December
2010.
Voting
66%
Percentage of female citizens 18
and older who reported voting in the 2008 Presidential election. Sixty-two
percent of their male counterparts cast a ballot. Additionally, 73 percent of
female citizens reported being registered to vote.
Source: Voting and
Registration in the Election of November 2008
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/voting/013995.html>
Jobs
59%
In 2008, the percentage of
females 16 and older who participated in the labor force, representing about 72
million women.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics <http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat2.pdf>
38%
Percent of females 16 or older
who worked in management, professional and related occupations, compared with
32 percent of males.
Source: 2008 American Community Survey <http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/>
23.8 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,
11.9 million worked in the health care industry, 9.1 million in educational
services and 2.7 million worked in the social assistance industry.
Source:
2008 American Community Survey <http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/>
67%
Chances are that your taxes will
be prepared by a woman, as this was the percentage of tax preparers who were
women in 2008. In addition, 72 percent of travel agents were women.
Source:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as cited in the Statistical Abstract of the
United States: 2010, Table 603.
<http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
99,000
Number of female police officers
across the country in 2008. In addition, there were about 14,000 women
firefighters, 349,000 lawyers, 267,000 physicians and surgeons, and 36,000
pilots. (Note: Number of pilots pertains to 2007.)
Source: U.S Bureau of Labor
Statistics and U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, as cited in the Statistical
Abstract of the United States: 2010, Tables 603 and 1047 <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
Military
197,900
Total number of active duty
women in the military, as of Sept. 30, 2008. Of that total, 34,300 women were
officers, and 163,600 were enlisted.
Source: U.S. Department of Defense, as
cited in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010, Table 498.
<http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
14%
Proportion of members of the
armed forces who were women, as of Sept. 30, 2008.
Source: U.S. Department of
Defense, as cited in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010,
Table 498.
<http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
1.7 million
The number of military veterans
who were women in 2008.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as cited in
the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010, Table 509.
<http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
Marriage
64.5 million
Number of married women 18 and
older (including those who were separated or had an absent spouse) in 2008.
Source:
Families and Living Arrangements: 2008 <http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2008/tabA1-all.xls>
18%
Percentage of married couples in
which the wife earned at least $5,000 more than the husband in 2008.
Source:
Families and Living Arrangements: 2008 <http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2008/tabFG3-all.xls>
5.3 million
Number of stay-at-home mothers
nationwide in 2008.
Source: Families and Living Arrangements: 2008 <http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/shp1.xls>
Sports
3.1 million
Number of girls who participated
in high school athletic programs in the 2007-08 school year. In the 1979-80
school year, only 1.75 million girls were members of a high school athletic
team.
Source: National Federation of State High School Associations, as cited
in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010, Table 1211. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
178,084
Number of women who participated
in a National Collegiate Athletic Association sport in 2007-08.
Source:
National Collegiate Atheletic Association (NCAA), as cited in the Statistical
Abstract of the United States: 2010, Table 1210. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau’s Facts for Features
series.
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. For any information cited for the Statistical Abstract, users should
check with the originating organization to see whether the data presented here
have been superseded by more recent data. 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>.
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