Women's Gains

Politics

* Currently three women are governors. For one year - 1994 - there were four women governors, the most ever. No women held a statehouse from 1935 to 1967 or before 1925.

* Congress has 63 women (11.8 percent), the most ever. The biggest jump was in 1993, when the number rose from 32 to 54.

Education

* In 1975, 5 percent of university presidents were women. Three years ago, the number was 16 percent.

* In 1960, women earned 35.3 percent of bachelor's degrees. By 1997, that number jumped to 55.4 percent.

* Education was the most popular major among college women until 1982. Since then, the top major has been business.

Sports

* Before Title IX, which in 1972 began to level the playing field between men's and women's athletics at school, 1 percent of girls played high school sports. Now 40 percent do.

* America sent no women to the Summer Olympic Games in 1912, 64 in 1960, and 280 in 1996.

* Three professional team sports leagues now exist for women. The W-League for soccer opened in 1994, the American Basketball League in 1996, and the Women's National Basketball Association in 1997.

Religion

* The percentage of women ministers in nine major Protestant churches rose from 4.4 percent in 1977 to 14.8 percent in 1996.

* Of the major Protestant churches, the Unitarian-Universalists have the highest percentage of women ministers (30.4 percent).

* The Reconstructionist movement of US Judaism has ordained the highest percentage of women rabbis (30.4 percent).

Military

* Women make up 13.2 percent of the 1.5 million people in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.

* Women make up 17.5 percent of the Air Force - the highest of any military branch. The Air Force also has the highest percentage of women officers.