Women Closing the Gap with Men in Some Measures, According to Census Bureau

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2003
                                
Robert Bernstein                                                   CB03-53
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Women Closing the Gap with Men in Some Measures,  According to Census Bureau

 "As we celebrate Women's History Month, we are pleased to present the most
current statistics from the Census Bureau on the nation's women and how 
they fare relative to men," said Census Bureau Director C. Louis Kincannon today.

  These statistics are contained in the report, Women and Men in the
United States: March 2002[PDF 61K], which shows that women 16 and over in the
civilian labor force have made progress in occupations predominantly held
by men. For example, 34 percent of women in this age group worked in
professional specialty or executive, administrative and managerial jobs,
compared with 30 percent of men.
 
  Other highlights from the report:

  - Of the population 15 and over who were full-time, year-round workers, 
    6 percent of women earned $75,000 or more, compared with 16 percent of men.
  
  - Women 16 and over were less likely than men to be participants in 
    the civilian labor force (60 percent compared with 74 percent). About 
    3-in-4 women in the civilian labor force worked in four occupational 
    groups: administrative support, including clerical; professional 
    specialty; service workers, except private household; and executive,
    administrative and managerial.

  - Women 15 and over were slightly less likely than men in the same age 
    group to be married and living with their spouse (51 percent and 54 
    percent, respectively). However, women were much more likely to be 
    widowed than men (10 percent versus 3 percent).

  - The numbers of men and women ages 20 to 29 in the United States 
    were about the same in 2002. However, the sex ratio drops gradually 
    with age, to 92 men per 100 women for the 55-to-64 age group. For the 
    older population, the sex ratio declines rapidly from 84 men per 100 
    women for the 65-to-74 group to 46 per 100 for those 85 years old and
    over.

  - Women were slightly more likely than men to be below the poverty 
    level (12.9 percent compared with 10.4 percent).
  
  The report and tables compare the latest data on women and men by a
variety of demographic and socioeconomic measures, including age, marital
status, educational attainment, occupation, income and poverty status.

  The findings are from the Annual Demographic Supplement to the March
2002 Current Population Survey, which uses Census 2000 as the base for its
sample. As in all surveys, the data are subject to sampling and
nonsampling error.

  A related publication released last month by the Census Bureau,

Women's History Month: Facts for Features, contains additional data on
the status of women. For example, women age 15 and over who worked full 
time, year-round in 2001 earned 76 cents for every $1 earned by their male 
counterparts. That is an all-time high.

Women and Men in the United States in 2002: A Comparison

Characteristic	Women	Men
Marital status (15 years and over)
Married, spouse present	50.5%	54.2%
Married, spouse absent	1.2	1.5
Widowed	10.0	2.5
Divorced or separated	13.1	9.8
Never married	25.2	32.1
Education (25 years and over)
High school degree or higher	84.4%	83.8%
Some college or associate's degree	26.2	24.3
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.1	28.5
In civilian labor force (16 years and over)	59.9%	73.6%
Selected occupations (16 years and over)
Administrative support, including clerical	22.8%	5.4%
Professional specialty	18.8	13.8
Service, except private household	17.0	10.8
Executive, administrative and managerial	14.8	15.6
Earnings of full-time, year-round workers (16 years and over)
Less than $10,000	4.4%	2.8%
$75,000 or more	5.5	15.8
Percent below poverty	12.9%	10.4%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Demographic Supplement, March 2002