Sociological Comparisons between Men and Women

As a segment of the total population, women, by a small margin, outnumber men 51% to 49%.

Educational/economic data

• Among women 25 and older, in 1996 81.6 percent had earned a high school diploma, and 21.4 percent had earned a bachelor's degree or higher. Among the general population, 81.7 percent of people had earned a high-school diploma, and 23.6 percent had earned a bachelor's degree or more.
• In one U.S. Census Bureau survey of 88,961 females and 81,620 males, just under one-half percent of women and .6 percent of men had not earned a high-school diploma. Among women, thirty-five percent earned a high-school diploma, and 15.4 percent earned a bachelor's degree. In comparison, just over thirty-two percent of men earned a high school diploma and 16.7 percent earned a bachelor's degree. This near-equity in the percentages ends with doctorate degrees--1.5 percent of the men earned a doctorate, but less than half (.6 percent) of the women earned a doctorate.
• Women and men receive a near-equal median number of years of schooling.

However, the income disparity between men and women even with the same educational level is striking:

• Median earnings for female high school graduates (with no college) working full time in 1991 were $18,042. Those of male high school dropouts working full-time were $20,944.
• Jobs traditionally held by women remain clustered at the lower end of the pay scale, while traditional men's jobs, even those having similar education requirements and time and effort on the job, are paid more. Thus, secretaries are routinely paid less than truck drivers even if both jobs are of equal importance to a company.
• Women comprise less than 1% of federal judges; less than 4% of all lawyers; 7% of doctors. Yet women represent 51% of the U.S. population. And, increasingly, men are replacing women in the top positions in secondary and elementary schools, in social work, and in libraries -- once thought to be women's fields.
• Over the course of a lifetime, the earnings of women and people of color are dramatically impacted by the wage gap. The average woman is shortchanged $420,000 in salary and even more considering her pension is based on these unfair earnings. A man of color loses over $280,000 in lifetime earnings.

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Household data

• One U.S. Census Bureau sample survey showed that 10.9 percent of women and 8.7 percent of men were divorced, which may account for more women than men acting as the sole head of household.
• In 1996, 29.2 million households, or 29 percent of all households, were headed by women with no husband present. Women are more likely to be unmarried or to have a spouse who is absent from the home:

• In 1996, 32.6 percent of households headed by women were at or below the poverty level. Half of Hispanic woman-headed households were at or below this level, as compared to 43.7 percent of black woman-headed households, 27.3 percent of white woman-headed households, 13 percent of male-headed households, and 5.6 percent of married-couple households:

Health data

• Heterosexual transmission is the leading cause of HIV for women. Worldwide, 3,000 women are infected daily with the virus that causes AIDS.
• Maternal mortality rates have nearly halved since 1970, yet approximately 500,000 women still die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth every year, 1,500 every day. A woman's risk of dying in childbirth in a developing country is 1 in 25-40, compared with 1 in 3,000 in developed countries.
• It is estimated that one-fourth of women worldwide are physically battered.
• In India, 6,200 dowry deaths were reported in 1994 - or an average of 17 married women were killed daily for failure to make dowry payments to the husband's family.
• 85 million to 114 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation worldwide; each year an estimated 2 million more girls suffer the practice in Africa, Asia or as immigrants or refugees in Europe and North America.
• For both men and women, the leading cause of death is heart disease. In 1995, however, the leading cause of death for younger men (ages 25-44) was AIDS-related illness. For women in the same age bracket, cancer was the foremost killer.
• Women visit the physician more frequently than men. Though women's annual health-maintenance care costs are higher than men's, women visited the doctor 416.3 million times, as compared to men's 280.8 million visits.
• Autoimmune disease. Three out of four people with autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus are women.
• STDs. Women are twice as likely as men to contract a sexually transmitted disease, and 10 times more likely to contract HIV during unprotected sex with an infected partner.
• Lung cancer. Female smokers are more likely to develop lung cancer than male smokers. It is the number one cancer killer of American women today. (American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures, 1998.)
• Heart disease. Women are more likely than men to have a second heart attack within a year of a first.
• Anesthesia. Women tend to wake up from anesthesia more quickly than men—an average of seven minutes for women, 11 minutes for men.
• Pain. Some pain medications (kappa-opiates) are far more effective in relieving pain in women than in men. (Society for the Advancement of Women's Health Research).
• Eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia, are about 10 times as common in women as in men. (National Institute of Mental Health. Eating Disorders, 1993.)
• Depression afflicts twice as many women as men. Young women are most prone. (National Institute of Mental Health. Depression: What Every Woman Should Know, December 1994.)

Crime data

• Men are much more likely to go to prison than women. Men make up 95% of the state prison populations, while women comprise only 5%. A man's chances of going to prison are about 9 times higher than a woman's-- his chances are about 9.9%, while a woman's chances are around 1%.
• One-quarter of all women in the United States will be abused at some point in their lives. (National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women. Excerpts from Statistics Packet. Third Edition, December 1994.)
• 90% of women who have been physically abused by their partners do not discuss these incidents with their physicians; 57% do not discuss the incidents with anyone. (The Commonwealth Fund. Survey of Women’s Health, July 1993.)
• Battering accounts for almost one in every five visits to emergency rooms by women. (Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health. The Women’s Health Data Book, 1995.)
• The survey found thatphysical assault is widespread among American women: 52 percent of surveyed women said they were physically assaulted as a child by an adult caretaker and/or as an adult by any type of perpetrator; 1.9 percent of surveyed women said they were physically assaulted in the previous 12 months. Based on these estimates, approximately1.9 million women are physically assaulted annually in the United States (National Institute of Justice, http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles/172837.txt).
• Using a definition of rape that includes forced vaginal, oral, and anal intercourse, the survey found that rape is a crime committed primarily against youth: 18 percent of women surveyed said they experienced a completed or attempted rape at some time in their life and 0.3 percent said they experienced a completed or attempted rape in the previous 12 months. Of the women who reported being raped at some time in their lives, 22 percent were under 12 years old and 32 percent were 12 to 17 years old when they were first raped (National Institute of Justice, http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles/172837.txt).
• American Indian/Alaska Native women were most likely to report rape and physical assault victimization, whileAsian/Pacific Islander women were least likely to report rape and physical assault victimization. Hispanic women were less likely to report rape victimization than non-Hispanic women.
• Women experience significantly more partner violence than men do: 25 percent of surveyed women, compared with 8 percent of surveyed men,said they were raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner,or date in their lifetime. According to survey estimates, approximately 1.5 million women and 834,700 men are raped and/or physicallyassaulted by an intimate partner annually in theUnited States (National Institute of Justice, http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles/172837.txt).
• Violence against women is primarily partner violence: 76 percent of the women who were raped and/or physically assaulted since age 18 were assaulted by a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, or date, compared with 18 percent of the men (National Institute of Justice, http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles/172837.txt).
• Women are significantly more likely than men to be injured during an assault: 32 percent of the women and 16 percent of the men who were raped since age 18 were injured during their most recent rape; 39 percent of the women and 25 percent of the men who were physically assaulted since age 18 were injured during their most recent physical assault. About one in three women who were injured during a rape or physical assault required medical care (National Institute of Justice, http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles/172837.txt).
• Using a definition of stalking that requires the victim to feel a high level of fear, the survey found that stalking is more prevalent than previously thought: 8 percent of surveyed women and 2 percent of surveyed men said they were stalked at some time in their life; 1 percent of surveyed women and 0.4 percent of surveyed men said they were stalked in the previous 12 months. According to survey estimates, approximately 1 million women and 371,000 men are stalked annually in the United States (National Institute of Justice, http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles/172837.txt).

Sources: Census Bureau Statistical Brief (Adobe Acrobat is needed to view this link)