NWPC South Bay Newsletter
Celebrating Women's History Month
March 2010
In 1848 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and four other women invited the public to the First Women's Rights Convention to discuss expanding the role of women in America. At the end of the two day convention, 100 people made a public commitment to work together to improve women’s quality of life.
A Declaration of Sentiments modeled after the Declaration of Independence, was presented and passed by the convention. Among the resolutions included in the Declaration was a call for women's suffrage, the right to vote. Visit The Women's Rights National Historical Park to learn more about this compelling time in history.
Many of the most important thinkers, writers and advocates for women's suffrage have called New York home and carried on their struggle there. Since then, women have achieved greater equality. However, the revolution continues today.
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. (source http://www.nwhp.org)
Facts about women in the work place:
$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%
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
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/
Additional Reading
http://www.nwhp.org/whm/test.php
http://www.nwhp.org/whm/index.php
http://www.nwhp.org/whm/history.php