25 March 2008
U.S. Women Making Strides in Education, Entrepreneurship
A demographic profile of women in the United States
Washington -- American women -- 152 million or 51 percent of the U.S. population -- increasingly are making their influence felt in all spheres of American life. And the month of March -- National Women’s History Month -- is a fitting time to measure the progress women are making in American society.
Recognizing that education is their ticket to economic success, women now graduate high school at rates higher than those of men -- 87 percent for women; 85 percent for men. In the age range of 25 to 29 years, 32 percent of women compared to 25 percent of men obtained bachelor's degrees or higher in 2005. On the other hand, a higher proportion of males in the general population had a bachelor's degree or higher (28.9 percent compared with 26.5 percent of women).
About 59 percent of women age 16 or older participated in the labor force in 2005. Of these, 37 percent worked in management, professional and related occupations. The median annual earnings of women 16 or older who worked year-round, full time, in 2005 was $32,168, according to figures provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Some 21.1 million women work in educational services, health care and social assistance industries. About 37 percent of women work in management, professional and related occupations.
Nonetheless, on average, women continue to earn only 77 cents for every $1 earned by men. Even so, in 17 percent of married couples, the wife earned at least $5,000 more than the husband in 2005. Among 22 percent of married couples, the wife has more education than the husband.
In 2005, some 63 million American women were married; and 55 million were widowed, divorced or never married. More than 82 million American women are mothers -- only 5.6 million are “stay-at-home” mothers.
The number of women-owned businesses -- 6.5 million -- has increased by 20 percent between 1997 and 2002 and their revenues jumped 15 percent in the same time frame. There were 7,231 women-owned firms with 100 or more employees, generating $274 billion in gross receipts in 2002. 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.
Although their numbers still are relatively small, more women are serving in the U.S. military. In 2005, some 203,000 women were on active duty, representing 15 percent of the armed forces. Nearly 35,000 women serve as officers.
More U.S. women citizens than men (65 percent to 62 percent) reported voting in the 2004 presidential elections.
Women are reversing the “gender gap” for computer use that was exhibited in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2003, more women (by 2 percentage points) than men used a computer at home.
In the last 30 years, girls have more than doubled their numbers in high school athletic programs. In the 2004-2005 school year, there were 2.9 million girls participating in school athletic programs compared to only 1.3 million girls in the 1973-1974 school year.
In 2006, according to Census Bureau statistics, more women than men (57 percent to 37 percent) could be found working in their gardens, doing charity work (32 percent versus 26 percent) and reading literature (55 percent versus 38 percent).
For more information, see Women’s History Month and Women in Politics.
