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A new, comprehensive national report on the status of American women shows significant life changes in recent decades - as well as a lack of progress in key areas impacting self sufficiency.
Women are earning higher levels of education, are spending more hours working (both in and outside the home) than men, and are volunteering more of their time to the community and yet continue to earn less than men and face a higher risk of poverty. According to the report, whatever their level of education, women earn about 75 cents for every dollar a man earns.
The White House report on the status of American women is the first comprehensive federal report on women in more than four decades. Titled "Women in America," it focuses on five critical areas: people, families and income; education; employment; health; and crime and violence, and was issued March 1, 2011. The report is accompanied by a website that compiles in one place some of the vast Federal statistical data concerning women: http://wh.gov/data-on-women
The last such report was done in 1963, when the Commission on the Status of Women, established by President Kennedy and chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, produced a report on the conditions of women.
Highlights from the new report include:
EDUCATION: Women have not only caught up with men in college attendance but younger women are now more likely than younger men to have a college or a graduate degree. Women are also working more and the number of women and men in the labor force has nearly equalized in recent years. As women’s work has increased, their earnings constitute a growing share of family income.
INCOME: Gains in education and labor force involvement have not yet translated into wage and income equity. At all levels of education, women earned about 75 percent of what their male counterparts earned in 2009. In part because of these lower earnings and in part because unmarried and divorced women are the most likely to have responsibility for raising and supporting their children, women are more likely to be in poverty than men. These economic inequities are even more acute for women of color.
HEALTH: Women live longer than men but are more likely to face certain health problems, such as mobility impairments, arthritis, asthma, depression, and obesity. Women also engage in lower levels of physical activity. Women are less likely than men to suffer from heart disease or diabetes. One out of seven women age 18-64 has no usual source of health care. The share of women in that age range without health insurance has also increased.
CRIME: Women are less likely than in the past to be the target of violent crimes, including homicide. But women are victims of certain crimes, such as intimate partner violence and stalking, at higher rates than men.
The data from the report also shows family dynamics have changed substantially in recent decades:
• Women are marrying later and have fewer children than in the past. A greater proportion of both women and men have never married, and women are giving birth to their first child at older ages.
• Although more adult women live in married-couple families than in any other living arrangement, an ever-growing number of women are raising children without a spouse.
• More women are remaining childless, although eight out of ten adult women have children.
• As the baby boom generation ages, a growing share of women – and men – are older. Because women live longer, women continue to outnumber men at older ages.
• Women are more likely to live in poverty than are adult men. Single-mother families face particularly high poverty rates, often because of the lower wages earned by women in these families.
The Women in America report described levels and trends in women’s life expectancy, prevalence of chronic health conditions, access to health care, and health insurance coverage. The data came primarily from the National Center for Health Statistics (cdc.gov/nchs).
The report indicated in regard to health:
• Life expectancy has increased over time for both women and men; however, women continue to live longer than men.
• Women are disproportionately more likely than men to be affected by certain critical health problems, including mobility impairments, chronic health conditions such as asthma, arthritis, or depression. Women are less likely to be physically active and are more likely to be obese. Females age 12 and older are more likely than males to report experiencing depression.
• Women continue to have a lower incidence of heart disease than men and are less likely than men to suffer from diabetes.
• Women generally use the health care system and preventive care more than men, but many women still do not receive recommended preventive care such as Pap smears or flu vaccinations.
• The share of both adult women and men without health insurance has increased over time. People with insurance are much more likely to have a doctor or other medical professional who provides regular care; one out of seven women have no usual source of health care.
(For additional resources on women's health topics, visit the Health, United States, 2010 Report at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/women.htm.)
“The Obama Administration has been focused on addressing the challenges faced by women and girls from day one because we know that the success of women and girls is vital to winning the future,” said Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls Valerie Jarrett. “Today’s report not only serves as a look back on American women’s lives, but serves as a guidepost to help us move forward.”
Resources:
Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being (pdf) report.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/Women_in_America.pdf
Women's Health, United States, 2010
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/women.htm
Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cwg/data-on-women
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