Women's Positive Economic Impact!

Go Women :)

More women are graduating college than men, and are out-earning mean in college degrees. Only 10.5 million men (25-year old adults and older) have a master’s degree or higher; for women, this number is 10.6 million. Women began to outnumber men in this aspect in the year 1996. Today, this gap is widening. Because of receiving a higher education, women receive more opportunities than ever before to enter into the workforce. Keeping women in the workforce produces a positive effect on our economy—they help our country’s GDP, create and keep successful companies and businesses running, and as a spending decision, and use their money to help the future United States economy.

"In a First, Women Surpass Men in College Degrees." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 26 Apr. 2011.

Web. 07 Dec. 2012.

Here's a video by CBS talking about how women and men's roles are switching: more women are working while men are staying at home. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW_a14cGPTM

When they made their impact: WWII

This isn't the only time women entering the workforce has affected the economy. During World War II, when men had to leave their jobs to go off and fight, many women stepped in to help. Although some women went off to fight, the majority of women took jobs in factories to make war supplies to send to our troops. Employment of married women between the years 1929 and 1940 increased 28%, especially women between the ages of 25-44 grew to 13.8%. Because women stepped up to the plate and took on jobs that men in the army left behind, our economy stayed level. Even though our economy wasn't in the greatest shape due to the Great Depression, this event in history shows how deeply women in the workforce impacted our economy. With the recession in the state it is now, it’s important that women stay in the labor force and continue coming into it, because it worked in the past for us, and helped us get out of the Depression, so maybe women will help us get out of this recession.

"Women in World War II." Women in World War II. University of Illinois, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2012.

Rosie the Riveter was government propaganda to help push more women into the workforce

This YouTube video shows the contrast of women's lives before they entered the workforce to when they entered it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBnR5JilQGs

Women in the workforce increases slowly (but surely) in other countries

Not only is women participation in the workforce rising in America, it is also steadily increasing across the globe. Although the percentage of women employment is small (such as in Italy and France), from 1997 to 2008 the change of that percentage is dramatic (see graph below). In other countries, women may not have the same type of economic impact compared to here in the United States. Although we lag behind Denmark in how much our rising female work force has gone, Denmark and the U.S. are still far above the other countries. We may consider ourselves more progressive than other nations in some terms, but overall I believe that our nation especially needed women in the workforce more because of our ever-changing economy.

"Female Power." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 30 Dec. 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.

Interesting way to look at this: A graph that shows how low the difference between male and female employment rates is in Sweden

Here's another graph. yet this is showcasing how steadily the female employment rate is rising.

Notice how Japan is almost dead last in both these graphs? (The first one, has about 22% with percentage gap and the second graph they're also in second) This video shows Kathy Matsui talking about how women entering Japan's workforce definitely will help their economy. http://www.youtube.com/user/GoldmanSachs?v=lFhVKY_BGXw

Businesswomen= success? Of course

It’s also a proven fact that successful start-ups have more women in senior positions than unsuccessful ones. For example, almost 16% of board members are corporate and board officers of Fortune 500 companies. Although this may seem like a relatively low number, Fortune 500 countries are hugely successful companies, such as PepsiCo, Archer Daniels Midland, and W.L. Gore. Catalyst, a research foundation, discovered that there is a "...26% difference in return on invested capital between the top-quartile companies (with 19-44% women board representation) and bottom quartile companies (with zero woman directors)" (Barsh). Women’s work obviously benefits corporations, so women being involved with high-ranking companies has never been more of an important thing to maintain!

Tozzi, John. "Women Help Startups Succeed. When Will VCs Notice?" Bloomberg Businessweek-Small Business. Bloomberg Business, 5 Oct. 5. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.

Here's a short article by the Huffington post that talks about the number of women CEO's in Fortune 500 companies has risen dramatically: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07/fortune-500-female-ceos_n_1495734.html

Women as entrepreneurs

One area that women have the most impact on is that they help build and sustain successful companies. They also are more likely to start up their own companies! As entrepreneurs, women help make more jobs, thus employing more people. Women own 28% of small businesses in America. Ernst and Young reports that “A recent New York Times Magazine story features a Pakistani woman named Saima Muhammad, who was once so poor that she couldn't afford to feed her daughter”, yet she was able to launch a widely successful embroidery business, which employs 30 families now, all because of a US loan. So, it’s important to know that giving women entrepreneurs a chance can pay off in the end. It’s been hard for women to enter the job market, but becoming an entrepreneur is even harder, thus it’s crucial to build up their confidence and give them the opportunity to shine.

"Women in the Workplace." Women in the Workplace - Unleashing the Power of Women

Entrepreneurs - Ernst & Young - Global. Ernst and Young, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2012.

Two successful women entrepreneurs: Tyra Banks (left) and Oprah Winfrey (right)

Go to this link and click on the arrows to see some statistics about women entrepreneurs just in the year 2007. Even though this is 5 years ago, these numbers are probably much higher now. This goes to show how much change can happen over a short period of time. Interesting stuff! http://www.slideshare.net/michellevillalobos/female-entrepreneurs-key-statistics-insights#btnPrevious

Women with their Benjamins

Women also control 51% of private wealth in America. They have more than 50% of all stock ownership and have power over of 60% of all personal wealth in the U.S. As more women enter into the workforce, their hold over wealth and stocks in America may increase even more. With this in mind, it’s important to realize how much influence women have as a spending decision and to know that women have more control over our financial crisis than we know.

Walter, Ekaterina. "The Top 30 Stats You Need to Know When Marketing to Women." TNW

Network All Stories RSS. The Next Web, 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 07 Dec. 2012.

Here's an interesting article that talks about just how rich the richest women in America are! http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/09/19/the-richest-women-in-america/

Women don't JUST spend their money on clothes..

Because women control more than 80% of spending decisions, it’s important to know what they spend most of their money on. This way, we can see how women impact the economy in a positive way by learning where and on what they spend their hard-earned paychecks on. This will let certain manufacturers and companies know how important it is to market their products to women. Let me break this down: women make 85% of all consumer purchases. They make 80% of health care decisions and make 68% of new car purchases. Women also spend more online than men—they account for 58% of all online shopping purchases.