Census – “The roots of National Women’s History Month 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.

• 162 million – The number of females in the U.S. as of July 2014. The number of males was 157.0 million. Source: Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Selected Age Groups by Sex for the United States, States, Counties, and Puerto Rico Commonwealth and Municipios: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014 http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2014/PEPAGESEX
• 2 to 1 – At 85 and older, the approximate ratio by which women outnumbered men in 2014 (4.1 million to 2.1 million). Source: Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Selected Age Groups by Sex for the United States, States, Counties, and Puerto Rico Commonwealth and Municipios: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014 http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2014/PEPAGESEX
• 75.6 million – The number of females 16 and older who participated in the civilian labor force in 2014. Women comprised 47.4 percent of the civilian labor force in 2014. Source: 2014 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table DP03http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/14_1YR/DP03
• 63% – Percentage of social scientists who were women, the heaviest representation of women among all STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. Among other STEM fields, approximately 14 percent of engineers, 45 percent of mathematicians and statisticians, and 47 percent of life scientists were women. The rates of mathematicians and statisticians, and life scientists are not statistically different from each other.​ Source: 2012 American Community Survey http://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2014/cb14-130.html“
• Download the entire report: Womens History Month: 2016