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Statistics on Women and Gender : U.S. and Local

Gender statistics and data within general statistical resources as well as resources entirely on women/gender topics

General Sources

1) Social Explorer Current and historical census data and demographic information.

2) Proquest Statistical Insight General Statistics Database

3) Fedstats Statistical information produced by the Federal Government

4) NORC an independent research institution that delivers reliable data and rigorous analysis to guide critical programmatic, business, and policy decisions at University of Chicago.

Wisconsin and Local

Internet Crosswords in Social Science Data from the UW-Madison Data & Information Services Center's website. It is searchable and also browsable (at the bottom of the main page) by broad categories, such as "family life, reproduction and fertility."

GetFacts is from the UW-Madison Applied Population Lab. The site maps results from the Census and the American Community Survey (the ACS is ongoing between census years.)

Data and Statistics page from Wisconsin Health Services. Can be searched or topics are listed A-Z at the top. Some examples include "Breastfeeding", "Abortion Statistics" and "Marriage/Divorces".

WISH or Wisconsin Interactive Statistics on Health provides useful charts on topics such as "Births" and "Breast Cancer".

Wisconsin Women's Council has "Fast Facts" on the social and economic status of women in Wisconsin, plus additional resources. Examples: 

Institute for Women's Policy Research  (IWPR) assesses the status of women and girls and issues reports, such as race, ethnicity and region, earnings, the gender wage ratio, percent of women in managerial and professional occupations, women’s business ownership, and women’s poverty.

Wisconsin Women's Health Foundation provides information and statistics on the seven areas of women's health it works on: cancer, cardiovascular disease, domestic abuse, mental illness, osteoporosis, pregnancy/post-partum health, and tobacco and alcohol.

Alverno College Research Center for Women & Girls Alverno is a women's college in Milwaukee Wisconsin.

U.S.

Historical U.S. Census Browser is mounted at University of Virginia Library. Includes statistics from the 1790-1960 counts.

Historical Statistics of the United States, Millennial Edition Online is available to UW-Madison users through a library subscription.

Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970.

Historical Statistics of the United States 1789-1945

Historical Statistics of the United States publications by the Cambridge University Press

Quick Health Data Online by The Office of Women's Health offers features based on preferred state such as:

Data.gov presents U.S. governmental datasets from the executive branch of the federal government. It is browsable by catagores such as "Health", "Public Safety", and "Local Government".

Data-Planet (link will only work for UW-Madison users) contains data from the Census and other U.S. governmental agencies. Click the dropdown menu on the left of the screen to expand more data set options.

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) (link will only work for UW-Madison users) Contains data holdings contain over 5000 studies and 50,000 files covering a wide range of social science areas such as population, health, social and political behavior, social and political attitudes, etc.

Statistical Abstracts for the United States was published from 1878 -2012 by the Census Bureau. As of 2013, this is now a commercial product. It might be useful to look at the section "Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Divorces" or use the search feature.

Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being is a statistical portrait of how American women are faring. The report focuses on five critical areas: people, families and income; education; employment; health; and crime and violence.

The American Woman on the Web: A Statistical Portrait by the Women's Research & Education Institute. The site contains statistics on education, health, employment, earnings and benefits, and economic security (poverty).

American FactFinder is the U.S. Census Bureau's data retrieval system. This resource is a little different so here are some tips:

  • Uses the term SEX not GENDER in counting persons.
  • Awesome Guided Search feature! 
  • Use the "Women" sections of news releases to find news releases.
  • International Data Base (IDB) with data from other countries.
  • Page of links to official statistical agencies in other countries.​

For more information about the U.S. Census Bureau use the Research Guide "U.S. Census of Population and Housing Basics," by UW Government Documents Librarian, Beth Harper.