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National Association of Counties • Washington, D.C.      Vol. 34, No. 5 • March 11 , 2002



Research News

March is Women’s History Month Thanks to Sonoma County, Calif.

March is celebrated as Women’s History Month, but how did this celebration originate?
The month was originally created as an effort to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of women in the history of the United States. The Sonoma County (Calif.) Education Task Force, a part of the Commission on the Status of Women, created Women’s History Week in 1978. It became such a popular concept that in 1987 the National Women’s History Project petitioned Congress to pass the National Women’s History Month Congressional Resolution designating the month of March for this celebration. The resolution passed with bipartisan support in both houses.

The National Women’s History Project, founded in 1980 primarily to celebrate the accomplishments of women, continues to promote this celebration each year. In addition to recognizing outstanding women, the celebration supports the growing achievements of women in this country. Among the achievements being celebrated during the year 2002 activities are:

Education

  • Eighty-four percent of women over 25 years of age have at least a high school diploma, comparing favorably with the rate for men.
  • The gap between women and men with college degrees continues to close. Census 2000 data show that 24 percent of women compared with 28 percent of men have degrees.
  • And 2000 census data reveal that for the first time women between ages 25–29 have not only closed the gap but reversed it, because in this age group 30 percent of women have college degrees compared with only 28 percent of men.
  • Fifty-six percent of college students in the year 2000 were women, similar to data since 1979.

Earnings

  • The average median income for women working fulltime is $27,355, rated at 73 percent of what men with similar work experience earn. This is close to the al-time high for women of 74 percent achieved in 1996.
  • Households headed by women saw a 4 percent increase in income between 1999 and 2000, compared with no significant increase in the income of other types of households.
  • There was a record decline in the number of female headed households in poverty from 3.5 million to 3.1 million in 2000.

Jobs

  • Sixty-one percent of women above the age of 16 were in the work force in March 2000 compared with 74 percent of men.
  • Fifty-nine percent of the 71 million women who were at least 15 years old worked full time in 2000, an increase from 57 percent in 1999.

Businesses

  • More than five million (5.4 million) businesses were owned by women in the United States in 1997. These businesses generated $819 billion in revenues and employed 7.1 million people. The District of Columbia leads the nation with 31 percent of businesses owned by women.

Population Distribution

  • There were more than 143 million (143.4 million) women in 2000 compared with 138.1 million men. However, men outnumber women up to age 34 years. Beginning with the 35 to 44 years age group, women outnumbered men. The disparity continually increases up to age 85 years, where there are twice as many women as men.

This year the National History Project will also celebrate six women who made a difference. The honorees include:

  • Dorothy Height — civil rights leader and president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years.
  • Alice Coachman — Olympic athlete, who became the first African-American woman to win a gold medal in track and field when she broke the record in the high jump.
  • Dolores Huerta — labor and human rights activist, who helped create better working conditions for migrant farm workers and co-founded the United Farm Workers Union.
  • Gerda Lerner — historian and author, who escaped Nazi terrorism when she was 17 years old. She was the first woman in 50 years to be elected president of the Organization of American Historians.
  • Congresswoman Patsy Mink — the first Asian-American woman congressional representative. She played a key role in the passage of Title IX, which expanded women’s educational opportunities.
  • Mary Louise Defender Wilson — an oral cultural historian who celebrates and keeps alive the spirit of the Dakotah/Hidatsa people through storytelling.

(If your county wants to learn more about a national celebration that has grown from one county’s desire to honor its outstanding women, visit www.nwhp.org.)

(Research News is written by Jacqueline Byers, director of research.)