US Census Data on Women

Facts for Features: Women's History Month: March 2007

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 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unpublished data.)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.htm
l )
   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.htm
l )
   $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.htm
l )
                                 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.htm
l
                                    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.htm
l
                           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.)
   Following is a list of observances typically covered by the Census
Bureau's Facts for Features series:
   African-American History Month (February)
   Valentine's Day (Feb. 14)
   Women's History Month (March)
   Irish-American Heritage Month (March)/St. Patrick's Day (March 17)
   Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month (May)
   Older Americans Month (May)
   Mother's Day (May 13)
   Father's Day (June 17)
   The Fourth of July (July 4)
   Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act (July 26)
   Back to School (August)
   Labor Day (Sept. 3)
   Grandparents Day (Sept. 9)
   Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15)
   Halloween (Oct. 31)
   American Indian/Alaska Native Heritage Month (November)
   Veterans Day (Nov. 11)
   Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 22)
   The Holiday Season (December)
   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. 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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SOURCE Bureau of the Census

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Related links:

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