How far we've come

On March 2nd, The Cute One posted an article about why working women are still stuck in the 50's. So, I looked up some statistics to see just how far we've come since then. BPWUSA (Business and Profession Women/U.S.A.) published 101 Facts on the Status of Workingwomen in July 2005. Here are some of my favorites:

1) There were 68 million workingwomen in 2003, a
significant increase from 18.4 million in 1950.

11) If women received the same salary as men who
work the same number of hours, have the same
education or union status, are the same age, and
live in the same region of the country, then these
women’s annual family income would rise by
$4,000, and poverty rates would be cut in half.

29) In 2002 in the Fortune 500
companies, women held 16% of the
corporate officer positions compared to 13%
in 2000. It is estimated that women will hold 27%
of all corporate officer positions by 2020.

45) Today women earn more than half of all
bachelor’s degrees compared to 43% in
1970. It is projected that by 2011
women will outnumber men in under
graduate and graduate programs by 10.2
million to 7.4 million. Women also earn
57% of master’s degrees and 42% of
doctoral degrees.

64) 86% of women say they give to organizations
about which they are passionate.

65) Women’s philanthropy has increased by more than
$15 billion annually since 1996.

thought for the day ...

"Like a woman who has applied her make-up before hurrying to her first tryst, the world, when it rushes toward us at the moment of our birth, is already made-up, masked, reinterpreted. And the conformists won't be the only ones fooled; the rebel types, eager to stand up against everything and everyone, will not realise how obedient they themselves are; they will rebel only against what is interpreted (or pre-interpreted) as worthy of rebellion." -Milan Kundera