Blog

United Way of Southwest Alabama / President's Desk  / National Women’s History Month

National Women’s History Month

In 1920, Congress passed and ratified the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote. As we celebrate the 19th amendment’s 100th birthday, I thought that I would highlight the state of women in America today.

  • According to the CDC, in 2017, a total of 194,377 babies were born to women aged 15–19 years, for a birth rate of 18.8 per 1,000 women in this age group.
  • The average age at which girls first become victims of prostitution is 12-14 years old (National Sexual Violence Resource Center).
  • 1 in 4 women men have been victims of severe physical violence (e.g. beating, burning, strangling) by an intimate partner in their lifetime (The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence).
  • There were 15 million single mother-headed households in the United States in 2019 (Pew Research Center).
  • In 2018, the labor force participation rate of mothers with children under age 6 equals 65.1% and mothers whose youngest child was age 6 to 17 equals 76.4% (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).

These numbers horrify me; however, we must point to some positives.

The teen birth rate in the United States is at a record low according the Pew Research Center. Locally, many of the United Way of Southwest Alabama’s partner agencies have worked on this for years. Crittenton Youth Services and Alpha Women’s Resource Center are just 2 of our partners working in this area.

St. Mary’s Home has worked with girls who have been trafficked for sex for decades.

Lifelines Family Counseling Services provides rape crisis counseling for those seeking assistance. It is still a highly underreported crime.

Child Day Care Association provides quality child care for single working mothers and teen mothers; which gives the children a chance to succeed once they enter.

With your donations, we can continue to move the needle on women’s overall health in this country.

When you donate to the United Way of Southwest Alabama, you not only change lives, you save lives.