Census Bureau
Facts for Features
A product of the U.S. Census Bureau's Public Information Office
CB00-FF.03 February 23, 2000
Women's History Month: March 1-31
Earnings and Jobs
- The real median earnings of women and men who worked full time,
year-round increased between 1997 and 1998 by 2.0 percent (from
$25,362 to $25,862) and 3.4 percent (from $34,199 to $35,345),
respectively. (The difference between the percentage increases for
women and men was not statistically significant.) It was the third
straight year of increases for women and the second straight year for
men.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-188.html
- In 1998, women earned 73 cents for every dollar earned by men
($25,862 compared with $35,345), not statistically different from
their all-time high in this regard of 74 cents ($23,710 versus
$32,144) in 1996.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-188.html
- Women come closest to attaining earnings parity with men during their
younger years among 25-to-34-year olds, women earned 82 cents for
every dollar earned by men in 1998 ($25,556 compared with $31,262).
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-188.html
- The percentage of wage and salary recipients who were women increased
from 32 percent in 1947 to 48 percent in 1997.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-181.html
- Between 1951 and 1997, the proportion of wives who were in the labor
force nearly tripled, from 23 percent to 62 percent.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-181.html
Education
- In 1998, 83 percent of the nation's women age 25 and over had at least
a high school diploma, while 22 percent had earned at least a
bachelor's degree. The proportion with a high school diploma was not
significantly different from that of men, but the percentage with a
bachelor's degree was somewhat lower than the 27 percent for men.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-221.html
- The educational attainment levels in 1998 of women ages 25 to 29
exceeded those of men in the same age group. Ninety percent of young
women had at least a high school diploma and 29 percent had a
bachelor's degree or more. The respective percentages for men of
the same ages were 87 percent and 26 percent.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-221.html
- Women, who made up 56 percent of all college students in 1998,
comprised 65 percent of those age 35 and over.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-179.html
- Women constitute a rising share of people being awarded college and
postgraduate degrees. In 1996, they represented 55 percent of people
awarded bachelor's degrees, 56 percent of the masters', 40 percent of
the doctorates, 41 percent of the M.D.'s and 44 percent of the
law degrees. As recently as the early 1970s, the respective
percentages were 43 percent, 40 percent, 14 percent, 8 percent and
5 percent.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-238.html
- In 1971, relatively few (9 percent) of the bachelor's degrees awarded
in business and management went to women. By 1996, the proportion had
increased to 49 percent. Similarly impressive increases occurred over
the period in engineering (from 1 percent to 16 percent) and
biological and life sciences (from 29 percent to 53 percent).
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-238.html
Voting
- Among citizens, women were more likely than men to have voted in the
1996 presidential election (60 percent versus 57 percent). In 1984,
women's voting rates in presidential elections surpassed those of men
for the first time since the Census Bureau began collecting voting
data in 1964. Women's voting rates have been higher than men's ever
since.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-146.html
- Even if women and men voted at the same rate, women would hold the
balance of electoral power. Projections indicate they constituted 52
percent of the voting-age population in November 1998, representing
majorities in each state except Alaska and Nevada.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-81.html
Population Distribution
- On July 1, 1999, there were an estimated 139.5 million women and girls
and 133.4 million men and boys in the United States. At older ages,
women outnumbered men by large margins: 20.3 million to 14.3 million
at age 65 years and over; 2.9 million to 1.2 million at age 85 and
over; and 49,000 to 11,000 among centenarians.
http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/nation/intfile2-1.txt
- Although females outnumber males nationally, there were four
states in 1998 where females were in the minority: Alaska, Hawaii,
Nevada and Wyoming.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-242.html
- In 1997, the life expectancy for women stood at 79 years; for men, it
was 74 years. Projections for 2010 show life expectancy then will be
81 years and 74 years, respectively.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-238.html
Motherhood
œ - In 1995, 58 percent of 15- to 44-year-old women had given birth to at
least one child: 18 percent to one child, 23 percent to two, 11 percent
to three and 6 percent to four or more. For those at the end of their
childbearing years (ages 40 to 44), more than 8 in 10 had given birth
to children -- an average of two each.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb97-192.html
œ - More than half (55 percent) of the 3.7 million women with a newborn
were in the labor force in 1995, up from 31 percent in 1976. In 1995,
women with newborns were especially likely to be in the labor force
(68 percent) if they had at least a bachelor's degree.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb97-192.html
- More women nowadays are either postponing or not ever having children.
Twenty-seven percent of women 30 to 34 in 1995 had never given birth;
in 1976, the corresponding proportion was 16 percent. The same trend
also holds for women in their late 30s (20 percent were childless in
1995, 11 percent in 1976) and early 40s (18 percent in 1995 and
10 percent in 1976).
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb97-192.html
Marriage and Family
œ - In 1998, 58 percent of women 18 years old and over were married,
21 percent had never married and 11 percent each were widowed and
divorced.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-03.html
œ - The estimated median age at first marriage was 25.0 years for women in
1998 -- tying the 20th century high reached the previous year and up
almost a full five years since the early 1960s.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-03.html
œ - There were 9.8 million single mothers in 1998, no change from the
number in the previous three years, but up by 6.4 million since 1970.
The total includes those who maintain their own household (7.7 million
in 1998), as well as those living in the homes of relatives or others.
Mothers still account for most of the nation's 11.9 million single
parents.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-228.html
œ - The number of women living alone doubled between 1970 and 1998, from
7.3 million to 15.3 million, or 14 percent of all women 15 years old
and over. Half of the women living alone were elderly; and 41 percent
of all elderly women lived by themselves.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-03.html
œ - All in all, 30.2 million households in 1998 -- about 3 in 10 -- were
maintained by women with no husband present. In 1970, there were
13.4 million such households, comprising about 2 in 10.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-228.html
œ - In 1997, about 2.9 million grandmothers lived with their grandchildren
compared with 1.7 million grandfathers. Of these grandmothers, 340,000
were raising their grandchildren without a grandfather or the
children's parents present.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-115.html
Sports and Recreation
- In 1997, the most popular participatory sport for women and girls age
7 and over was exercise walking: the 48 million who put on their
walking shoes at least six times that year comprised nearly two-thirds
of the participants.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-238.html
- During the 1996-97 school year, 128,000 women took part in National
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sanctioned sports,
constituting nearly 4 in 10 participants. The 7,684 NCAA-sanctioned
women's teams virtually equaled the number of men's teams. Outdoor
track had the most female athletes, basketball the most women's teams.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-238.html
- More than 2.5 million girls took part in high school athletic
programs during the 1997-98 school year, triple the number in
1972-73. Participation levels by boys remained about
the same during this time frame.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-238.html
Computer Use
- As of 1997, women used computers on the job more often than men,
57 percent versus 44 percent. Women and men used computers at work
for different tasks. For example, 60 percent of women who used
computers at work used them for word processing, compared with
54 percent of men.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-194.html
œ - In 1997, 20 percent of women reported they used the Internet;
25 percent of men did.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-194.html
œ - Of all adults with access to a computer at home, men continued to
exhibit marginally higher rates of use than women (72 percent versus
70 percent) in 1997. However, the home computer-use "gender gap" has
shrunk considerably since 1984, when men's home computer use
was 20 percentage points higher than that of women.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-194.html
œ - There was no difference between girls' and boys' computer use in
1997. Eighty-three percent of girls with a computer at home used it
and 70 percent used one at school.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-194.html
The preceding facts come from the Current Population Survey, population estimates and projections and the Statistical Abstract of the United States. The data are subject to sampling variability and other sources of error. Previous Facts for Features in 2000: African American History Month (February) and Valentine's Day (February 14). Questions or comments should be directed to the Census Bureau's Public Information Office (tel: 301-457-3030; fax: 301-457-3670; e-mail: pio at census.gov).