By the Numbers

Jobs
59%
Percent of women 16 or older who participated in the labor force in 2005. This amounted to 69.3 million women. More than 35 million women in 2005 had worked year-round, full time, in the past 12 months. Men in this age range had a participation rate of 73 percent.
37%
Percent of women 16 or older who work in management, professional and related occupations, compared with 31 percent of men.
21.1 million
Number of female workers in educational services, health care and social assistance industries. More women work in this industry group than in any other. Within this industry group, 10.7 million work in the health care industry and 8 million in educational services.
Businesses
More than $939 billion
Revenue for women-owned businesses in 2002, up 15 percent from 1997. There were 116,985 women-owned firms with receipts of $1 million or more.
Nearly 6.5 million
The number of women-owned businesses in 2002, up 20% from 1997 (the increase was twice the national average for all businesses), and owned 28% of all non-farm businesses.
More than 7.1 million
Number of people employed by women-owned businesses. There were 7,231 women-owned firms with 100 or more employees, generating $274 billion in gross receipts.
Women-Owned
Nearly one in three women-owned firms operated in health care and social assistance, and other services such as personal services, and repair and maintenance. Women owned 72% of social assistance businesses and just over half of nursing and residential care facilities. Wholesale and retail trade accounted for 38.2% of women-owned business revenue.