Women, Let’s Celebrate!

Did you know our government designated March as Women’s History Month? As a woman, it surprised me to learn of this celebration. So, I asked a few of my fellow females. They, too, were unaware of our celebratory month. Our month apparently engenders no speeches, essay contests or rallies. Perhaps a bake-off is in order? We could have quite a party! How appropriate that Martha Stewart was released from jail this week. She should be the Grand Mistress of our parade.

According to the US Census Bureau, Congress passed the resolution to establish this celebration way back in 1981. It’s comforting to know our elected officials put their time to good and productive use. Originally, they established it as a week of celebration; but, changed it to a month in 1987. (Seeing how the rousing celebration spilled over its week-long time frame, one can surely justify the extension.) It was designed to coincide with International Woman’s Day on March 8. To think I’ve missed 24 years of celebration!

As of the latest census figure (7/1/03), there were 147.8 million women in the US and 143.0 million men. We outnumber the stronger sex by 4.8 million. It may be quite true that a good man is hard to find. In a good news/bad news scenario, men outnumber women in every age group until the group beginning with 40. At 85, there are twice as many women than men. So, girls, get ‘em while they’re young. There will be a lot less of them later on. (Sorry guys, don’t kill the messenger.)

Women still earn less than their male counterparts. The fairer sex earns only 76 cents for every $1 a man earns – that’s down from 77 cents in 2002. This number is significant considering more women now receive Bachelor degrees than men at a rate of 31% to 26%. And, women have a 1% higher rate of completing high school: 85% to 84%.

In case you are the less-than-half of the population left out of this month of celebration, there are other celebratory months of which you may not be aware. I’ve provided a complete list so you won’t miss out:

African American History Month — February
Women’s History Month — March
Asian Pacific Heritage Month — May
Older American’s Month — May
Hispanic Heritage Month — September 15 to October 15 (Hmmm?)
American Indian/Alaskan Native Heritage Month — November

If you are a white male in your prime, that’s apparently celebration enough. So, sit back, shut up and let the rest of us enjoy what is rightfully ours!

If you enjoy what you read consider signing up to receive email notification of new posts. There are several options in the sidebar and I am sure you can find one that suits you. If you prefer, consider adding this site to your favorite feed reader. If you receive emails and wish to stop them follow the instructions included in the email.

4 Responses to “Women, Let’s Celebrate!”

  1. Big Dog says:

    Did you say a hard man is good to find???

    It is shameful the government gave you “gals” your own month on top of the time of the month you get 12 times a year!

    Women only earn 76 cents of every dollar a man earns? That is because they only work 11 months of the year. They are too busy in March celebrating their month to do anything productive.

    Can’t prove cause and effect but did you consider that men die younger than women because women drive men to an early grave (or end up killing them over a salary dispute)? Just my 24 cents (more) worth.

  2. Adam says:

    Big Dog:

    You’re blowing change left and right this week. Twenty four here. Two cents there. I hope you get paid well at work…

    The only reason I know about women’s month is because at the library where I work we do monthly displays. We just got done with Black History Month.

    You’re right Big Dog. Women live 10 years longer on average.
    If you are indeed correct about your theory, we might start seeing this change when women live with women more often. Just tossing in my spare change as well…

  3. Surfside says:

    So glad to see you boys can agree on something!

  4. Surfside says:

    Don’t forget it took a woman and Women’s History Month to bring about a meeting of the minds. Guess we’re good for something, after all.