No one can make you feel inferior without your permission (Eleanor Roosevelt), continues to be a statement to women about our personal empowerment and self-efficacy. In March 2017 Women’s History Month also included the International Day of the Woman, reminding us of the global solidarity among women across the world and from all walks of life.
Accelerating cultural knowledge about women merits attention to particular facts which underscore women’s enormous contributions as employees, students, consumers, leaders of social causes, and family members. Consider these U.S.-based facts:
156,964,212 are women with median age of 38.5 years
Compared to men with a median age of 35.8 years [1]
17.1 % of U.S. women are Hispanic/Latina with median age of 28 years
Compared to 35 years for African American women and 44 years for White women [2]
11.7 million women were projected to attend college in Fall 2016
Compared with 8.8 million men [3]
9.9 billion (35.8%) women-owned businesses/firms in 2012 [4]
Best fields with an above-average percentage of women include:
Healthcare; Employment Services; Educational Services; Social Assistance (excluding Child Day Care); Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing; Advertising and Public Relations Services; Child Care Services; Insurance; Hotels and Other Accommodations; Advocacy, Grant-making, and Civic Organizations [5]
Women control over $7 trillion in U.S. spending and account for 85% of overall consumer spending
Expenditures ranging from automobiles to healthcare [6]
13% of women, aged 18+ were single heads of households in 2012 [7]
Women control over $20 Trillion in world-wide spending
Globally, women are a growing force as well.[6]
In 1949 Simone de Beauvoir wrote the Second Sex, her reference to women as the perpetual ‘other’ in relation to men, particularly with respect to power and privilege. Data today suggest that being “second” has shifted in measurable ways to “first” place in significant economic sectors—the workplace, higher education, and with consumerism. What if educators, employers and business owners began to acknowledge women for their global contributions and force? Leaders need to take note of the roles women are assuming in multiple settings and become proactive about engaging more women in leadership.
Your thoughts—what kind of impact are women having? In what other ways are women leading?
References
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2011). American fact finder. Retrieved from https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
- Pew Research Center. (2013). Hispanic Trends. Retrieved from http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/04/19/statistical-portrait-of-hispanics-in-the-united-states-about-the-data/
- National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Fast facts. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2015). Los Angeles county a microcosm of nation’s diverse collection of business owners, census bureau reports. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-209.html
- Dehne, S. (2009). 10 industries where women rule. Retrieved from https://www.aol.com/article/2009/01/26/10-industries-where-women-rule/1441124/
- The HC Insighter. (n.d.). A healthcare marketing check-up: It’s her economy. Retrieved from: http://healthcare.acrobatant.com/blog/tag/greenfield-online-for-arnolds-womens-insight-team/
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Women’s Health USA 2012. Rockville, Maryland: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013.