Women's History Month stats and facts

March 1 begins Women's History Month. But how long has this been so? 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.

The Census Bureau presents the following interesting stats about women and their status in the U.S.—

• As of November 1, 2006, there are 152 million females in the U.S., as opposed to 148 million males


• The median earnings of full-time women workers over the age of 16 in 2005 was
  $32,168 (77% of the earnings of male workers)


• As of 2005, 85.4% of women 25 or older had completed high school (as opposed to 84.9% of men)


• There were nearly 6.5 women-owned businesses in 2002, up 20% from 1997. These businesses generated $939 billion in 2002.


• As of September 30, 2005, there were 203,000 women serving in the military on active duty. 35,000 women were officers, and 168,000 were enlisted personnel.

And don't forget to check out the Library's Women's History Month display of favorite fictional female characters!