Reduce Your Rubbish

• Making use of your mountain of plastic bags: Take them shopping again; Use them for Lunch bags; Use them as trash bin liners. Want more tips on plastic bags? See Reduce Your Rubbish
• Junk mail can be used as scrap paper, or as bedding for pets.
• Cardboard cartons can be used to collect paper for recycling, instead of plastic bags (even breakfast cereal cartons are good). Then recycle the lot.
• Old newspapers (including those gathered from your friends) can be used to mulch and weed control the garden. Wet newspaper and place thickly on the garden. Cover with bark or stones. gradually it will breakdown and become part of the soil.
• Old stockings can be used to tie up plants in the garden.
• Spread the word! By telling other people and helping them to get started on Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling, we increase the savings that can be made. Also get your children involved—if we can educate them early, they will grow up and appreciate waste reduction and will be able to apply these skills in later life.

Recycle Smart

• From furniture to electronics, one person's trash is another's treasure—so when you want to dispose of an old item, don't make the dump your first stop.
• Create designated holding “bins” for each type of recycled product and place in convenient locations in your home/garage.
• Ask your local retailers to stock more products made from recycled materials and buy products made from the highest recycled content whenever possible.
• Buy products and containers made from recycled material as often as possible to support the recycled product market. When purchasing paper products (toilet paper, etc,), look for paper that has been recycled using a minimum of 50% post-consumer waste. Also, purchase from companies that do not use chlorine to bleach their paper products.
• Leave grass clippings on the lawn as fertilizer.
• Start a compost pile with yard trimmings and food scraps. Later, use the compost to fertilize your garden or indoor plants.
• If you are traveling and no recycle bins are available, pack your recyclables home with you whenever possible.
• Teach kids to be green by giving your little ones responsibility for your family's recycling and match whatever they make in deposits at the store. They'll learn about money and recycling at the same time.

Women's History Month 2009

Facts About Women in the U.S.

National Women’s History Month’s roots go back to March 8, 1857, when women from New York City factories staged a protest over working conditions. International Women’s Day was first observed in 1909, but it wasn’t until 1981 that Congress established National Women’s History Week to be commemorated the second week of March. In 1987, Congress expanded the week to a month. Every year since, Congress has passed a resolution for Women’s History Month, and the president has issued a proclamation. The following information is from the U.S. Census Bureau news release Facts for Features.

Population

154.7 million—The number of females in the United States as of Oct. 1, 2008. The number of males was 150.6 million.

At 85 and older, there were more than twice as many women as men.

Motherhood

82.8 million—Estimated number of mothers of all ages in the United States.

1.9—Average number of children that women 40 to 44 had given birth to as of 2006, down from 3.1 children in 1976, the year the Census Bureau began collecting such data. The percentage of women in this age group who were mothers was 80 percent in 2006, down from 90 percent in 1976.

Earnings

$34,278—The median annual earnings of women 16 or older who worked year-round, full time, in 2007, up from $33,648 in 2006 (after adjusting for inflation). Women earned 77.5 cents for every $1 earned by men.

$49,364—Median earnings of women in 2007 in the District of Columbia, a total not statistically different from the men. In all of the 50 states, women had lower earnings than the men. The District of Columbia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland and New Jersey were the only states or equivalents where median earnings for women were greater than $40,000.

$61,957—Median earnings of women working in computer and mathematical jobs, the highest among the 26 major occupational groups. In the installation, maintenance and repair occupations and community and social services group, women’s earnings as a percentage of men’s earnings were higher than 90 percent.

Education

33%—Percent of women 25 to 29 who had attained a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2007, which exceeded that of men in this age range (26 percent).

28.2 million—Number of women 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more education in 2007, more than double the number 20 years earlier.

28%—Percent of women 25 and older who had obtained a bachelor’s degree or more as of 2007. This rate was up 11 percentage points from 20 years earlier.

928,000—The projected number of bachelor’s degrees that will be awarded to women in the 2008-09 school year. Women are also projected to earn 391,000 master’s degrees during this period. Women would, therefore, earn 58 percent of the bachelor’s and 60 percent of the master’s degrees awarded during this school year. In addition, women would earn nearly 50 percent of first-professional degrees, such as law and medical.

Businesses

33%—Number of women-owned businesses.

More than $939 billion—Revenue for women-owned businesses in 2002. There were 116,985 women-owned businesses with receipts of $1 million or more.

Nearly 6.5 million—The number of women-owned businesses in 2002. Women owned 28 percent of all nonfarm businesses.

More than 7.1 million—Number of people employed by women-owned businesses. There were 7,231 women-owned businesses with 100 or more employees, generating $274 billion in gross receipts.

Nearly one in three—Number of women-owned businesses operated in health care and social assistance, and other services, such as personal services, and repair and maintenance. Women owned 72 percent of social assistance businesses and just over half of nursing and residential care facilities. Wholesale and retail trade accounted for 38 percent of women-owned business revenue.

13%—Percentage of women-owned businesses in California, which had the most women-owned businesses at 870,496. New York was second with 505,077 or 8 percent of all businesses. Texas was third in number of businesses with 468,705, accounting for 7 percent of all businesses.

Voting

65%—Percentage of female citizens 18 and older who reported voting in the 2004 presidential election. Sixty-two percent of their male counterparts cast a ballot.

49%—Percentage of female citizens who voted in the 2006 congressional elections, compared with 47 percent of men.

Jobs

59%—In 2007, the percentage of females 16 and older who participated in the labor force, representing about 71 million women. The participation rate for males in this age category was 73 percent.

38%—Percent of females 16 or older who worked in management, professional and related occupations, compared with 32 percent of males.

22.5 million—Number of female workers in educational services, health care and social assistance industries. More women worked in this industry group than in any other. Within this industry group, 11.2 million worked in the health care industry and 8.6 million in educational services.

62%—Chances are that your taxes will be prepared by a woman, as this was the percentage of tax preparers who were women in 2007. In addition, 75 percent of travel agents were women.

94,000—Number of female police officers across the country in 2007. In addition, there were about 14,000 women firefighters, 330,000 lawyers, 266,000 physicians and surgeons, and 36,000 pilots. (Note: Number of pilots pertains to 2006.)

Military

198,400—Total number of active duty women in the military, as of Sept. 30, 2007. Of that total, 33,500 women were officers, and 164,900 were enlisted.

14%—Proportion of members of the armed forces who were women, as of Sept. 30, 2007. In 1950, women comprised less than 2 percent.

1.8 million—The number of military veterans who were women in 2007.

Marriage

62.6 million—Number of married women (including those who were separated or had an absent spouse) in 2007. There were 60.7 million unmarried (widowed, divorced or never married) women.

18%—Percentage of married couples in which the wife earned at least $5,000 more than the husband in 2007.

23%—Percentage of married couples in which the wife had more education than the husband in 2007.

5.6 million—Number of stay-at-home mothers nationwide in 2007, up from 4.6 million a decade earlier.

Sports

3 million—Number of girls who participated in high school athletic programs in the 2006-07 school year. In the 1979-80 school year, only 1.75 million girls were members of a high school athletic team.

174,534—Number of women who participated in a National Collegiate Athletic Association sport in 2006-07.