Tell Them - grassroots e-advocacy network

Happy Women's History Month!

March is Women’s History Month (Click here to read President Obama’s Proclamation)– and I plan to use this opportunity to talk about the great women who have come before us. This year’s theme is “Writing Women Back into History,” and to help get that message out, I’ve decided to share some women’s history with you.

Each day throughout March, Tell Them will be tweeting out facts about strong women from history. We’ll also be sharing statistics about modern women, and want to foster discussions about where we go from here.

It should come as no surprise that our Virtual March will take place in March. This is a phenomenal way to show that women around the state (and really, across the country) have tremendous power when they stand together.

To get you in the mood for Women’s History Month, I wanted to share a few numbers about women living in the United States today. These are all taken from the U.S. Census Bureau (Last Revised: December 16, 2009):

• 153.6 million: The number of females in the United States as of Oct. 1, 2007. (The number of males is 149.4 million.)
• 82.8 million: Estimated number of mothers of all ages in the United States.
• $32,649: The median annual earnings of women 16 or older who worked year-round, full time, in 2006.
• 26.8 million: Number of women 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more education in 2006, more than double the number 20 years earlier.
• Over $939 billion: Revenue for women-owned businesses in 2002. There were 116,985 women-owned firms with receipts of $1 million or more.
• Over 7.1 million: Number of people employed by women-owned businesses. There were 7,231 women-owned firms with 100 or more employees, generating $274 billion in gross receipts.
• 84,000: Number of female police officers.
• 9,000: Number of female firefighters.
• 315,000: Number of female lawyers.
• 278,000: Number of female physicians and surgeons.
• 37,000: Number of female pilots.
• 202,000: Number of active duty women in the military, as of Sept. 30, 2006. Of that total, 34,000 women were officers, and 168,000 were enlisted.
• 30%: Percentage of women who volunteer. The corresponding rate for men is 23 percent. Overall, 36 million women perform unpaid volunteer activities.

Let’s stand together this March, and provide for the next generation of female movers and shakers. Join the Virtual March and demand responsible reproductive health policies from our representatives.

HAPPY WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH!