Then and Now: Women's progress, 1960-present

73.1 life expectancy at birth for women in 1960

79.7 life expectancy at birth for women in 1999

66.6 life expectancy at birth for men in 1960

74.1 life expectancy at birth for men in 1999

35.3 percentage of bachelor's degrees awarded to women in 1960

55.1 percentage of bachelor's degrees awarded to women in 1996

31.6 percentage of Master's degrees awarded to women in 1960

55.9 percentage of Master's degrees awarded to women in 1996

2.5 percentage of law degrees awarded to women in 1960

43.5 percentage of law degrees awarded to women in 1996

400,000 number of businesses owned by women in 1972

8.47 million number of business owned by women in 1997

20 number of women in Congress in 1960

73 number of women in Congress in 2002

77 average of women's (ages 16-29) weekly earnings as a percentage of men's in 1974

92 average of women's (ages 16-29) weekly earnings as a percentage of men's in 1993

11 percentage of corporate boards with women in 1973

72 percentage of corporate boards with women in 1998

10 the number of times as fast women?s wages grew between 1960 and 1994 compared to men's

Source[s]: Women's Figures: An Illustrated Guide to the Economic Progress of Women in America (Independent Women's Forum, 1999); "2001 Statistical Abstract of the United States" (U.S. Census Bureau).