Timeline of U.S. Women's History

In this article, you will find:

2000

President: William J. Clinton

  • More than 2.5 million girls took part in high school athletic programs during the 1997-98 school year. That's triple the number in 1972-73.

  • In 1998, women earned 73 cents for every dollar earned by men ($25,862 compared with $35,345). This figure isn't statistically different from women's all-time high in this regard of 74 cents ($23,710 versus $32,144) in 1996.

  • In 1998, the educational attainment levels of women ages 25 to 29 exceeded those of men in the same age group. 90 percent of young women had at least a high school diploma and 29 percent had a bachelor's degree or more. The respective percentages for men of the same ages were 87 percent and 26 percent.

  • Even if women and men voted at the same rate, women would hold the balance of electoral power. Projections indicate women constituted 52 percent of the voting-age population in November 1998, representing majorities in each state except Alaska and Nevada.

  • Although females outnumber males nationally, there were four states in 1998 where females were in the minority: Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Wyoming.

  • More women nowadays are either postponing or not ever having children. Twenty-seven percent of women 30 to 34 in 1995 had never given birth; in 1976, the corresponding proportion was 16 percent.

  • The estimated median age at first marriage was 25 years for women in 1998 -- tying the 20th century high reached the previous year and up almost a full five years since the early 1960s.
    Special thanks to the U.S. Census Bureau and 2000: Anniversaries in Women's History for statistics.
    • Previous:

    Was this article helpful?