INTRODUCTION
Women comprise more than half of the U.S. population.
In 2001, the U.S. population reached 277 million, with
females
representing 51 percent of the total population. The U.S.
female population is increasingly racially and ethnically
diverse and women continue to comprise a larger proportion
of our nation's elderly population.
Over the past three
decades, the number of college degrees awarded to women
has increased from 518,000 in 1969-1970
to 1.3 million in 1999-2000. In 1999-2000 women were
awarded a greater proportion of the associate, bachelor's
and master's
degrees than men. In addition, women make up an increasing
percentage of enrollees in schools of medicine, dentistry,
pharmacy, and public health. The number of U.S. females
16 years and older in the labor force has grown to over
62 million. Women represent the
majority of employees in the sales and office occupations
(63.7 percent)
and service sector (56.7 percent). However, disparities
continue to exist in incomes between men and women, with
women earning
76 cents for every dollar earned by men.
Poverty continues
to disproportionately affect women in the U.S. In 2001,
12.8 million women and 8.4 million
men
aged
18 and older were living with incomes below the Federal
poverty level. Among selected household types, female-headed
households
had the highest rates of poverty, followed by females
living alone, 26.4 and 19.2 percent respectively. The
Supplemental
Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC),
and the Federal Food Stamp programs are nutrition programs
that assist needy families and individuals with purchasing
nutritious
foods. In 2001, 70.3 percent of all adult Food Stamp
program
participants were females while the number of adult
women participating in WIC reached nearly 1.9 million in
2000.
The Federal- and State-funded Temporary Assistance
to Needy Families (TANF) program provides cash assistance
and work
opportunities to needy families. In 2000, adult TANF
recipients numbered 1.6 million, of whom 1.4 million
were women (90
percent). Ninety-three percent of adult TANF recipients
were heads of households and two-thirds were of a
minority racial
or ethnic group.
People with health insurance are
more likely to have a regular source of medical care
and to use preventive
care,
while
people without health insurance are more likely
to have unmet medical needs. In 2001, non-Hispanic White
females
were the
most likely to be covered by private insurance
(77.9
percent) as compared to other racial and ethnic
groups and the least
likely to be uninsured (9.3 percent). Hispanic
women were most likely to have no usual source of care
(20.8 percent).
Immigrants, especially non-citizens,
face special challenges in accessing health care services,
including
language
and cultural barriers. In 2001, women who were
non-citizens were more likely than naturalized
citizens and U.S.-born
women
to lack a usual source of health care (18.9 percent
of non-citizens as compared to 11.2 and 9.4 percent
of naturalized
and U.S.-born
citizens, respectively). Also, non-citizen women
reported having gone longer than citizens without
seeing a health
care provider.
Although the rate of incarceration
for women is much lower than it is for men, from 1990
to 2000,
the
total number
of women in Federal and State prisons and local
jails nearly doubled from 83,253 to 165,649.
Approximately 58.8 percent
of women in State and Federal custody have
minor children.
The Health Resources and Services Administration
(HRSA) serves all women, including uninsured
and underserved
women; rural,
migrant, and immigrant women; homeless women;
women living with HIV/AIDS; and pregnant
women. In 2002,
59.3 percent
of the clients served by HRSA-supported health
centers were women. The majority (84.8 percent)
of women
18 years and
older served at these health centers were
up-to-date for Pap smears, and those 50 and older had
high rates for mammography
and clinical breast exams. Rates for community
health center clients were higher than national
averages
for both Pap
smears and mammography.
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