When Women Didn't Count: The Chronic Mismeasure and Marginalization of American Women in Federal Statistics

by Robert Lopresti

Overview

Erroneous government-generated "data" is more problematic than it would appear. This book demonstrates how women's history has consistently been hidden and distorted by 200 years of official government statistics.

Much of women's history has been hidden and filtered through unrealistic expectations and assumptions. Because U.S. government data about women's lives and occupations has been significantly inaccurate, these misrepresentations in statistical information have shaped the reality of women's lives. They also affect men and society as a whole: these numbers influence our investments, our property values, our representation in Congress, and even how we see our place in society. This book documents how U.S. federal government statistics have served to reveal and conceal facts about women in the United States. It reaches back to the late 1800s, when the U.S. Census Bureau first listed women's occupations, and forward to the present, when the U.S. government relies on nonprofit groups for statistics on abortion.

Objective and accurate, When Women Didn't Count isn't focused on numbers and census results as much as on recognizing problems in data, exposing the hidden facets of government data, and using critical thinking when considering all seemingly authoritative sources. Readers will contemplate how the government decided that a "farmer's wife" could be a farmer, how the ongoing battle over abortion has been reflected in the numbers the government is allowed to keep and publish, the consequences of the Census Bureau "correcting" reports of women in unusual occupations in 1920, and why the official count of women-owned businesses dropped 20 percent in 1997.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440843693
Publisher:	ABC-CLIO, Incorporated
Publication date:	06/22/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Robert Lopresti is a professor at Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA. He has been a government information librarian for almost 40 years.

Table of Contents

Illustrations ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Chronology xv

Part I Why Care about Government Statistics? 1

Chapter 1 Introduction 3

Chapter 2 Statistical System of the United States 7

Part II Demographics 13

Chapter 3 Population and Age 15

Chapter 4 Marriage, Divorce, and Cohabitation 21

Chapter 5 Motherhood 29

Chapter 6 Single Mothers 35

Part III Women at Home 41

Chapter 7 Heads of Household, Heads of Family 43

Chapter 8 Housewives, Homemakers, and Housekeepers 49

Part IV Concepts of Employment 61

Chapter 9 "Occupations Suitable for Women" 63

Chapter 10 "Gainful Employment" 75

Chapter 11 Income 83

Chapter 12 Unemployment during the Great Depression 93

Part V Women at Work 99

Chapter 13 The Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Women's Bureau 101

Chapter 14 Employment 111

Chapter 15 Women Factory Workers 129

Chapter 16 "Farm Females" 137

Chapter 17 Women Business Owners, Women-Owned Businesses 149

Part VI Women and Health 157

Chapter 18 Nonreproductive Health Issues 159

Chapter 19 Contraception 173

Chapter 20 Abortion 179

Part VII Women and the Law 189

Chapter 21 Women as Criminals 191

Chapter 22 Prostitution 203

Chapter 23 Women as Crime Victims 211

Chapter 24 Rape 219

Part VIII Women at War 229

Chapter 25 Rosie the Riveter: Civilian Women during the World Wars 231

Chapter 26 Women in the Military 241

Part IX Conclusion 249

Chapter 27 Conclusion 251

Notes 255

Bibliography 297

Index 341

What People are Saying About This

Margo Anderson

"We live in a world of data, and navigating the plethora of numbers is a daunting task in the best of cases. In cases where social, ideological, and political issues shape what’s collected and why, the silences, confusions, omissions, and biases can discourage even the most dedicated data adventurer. Robert Lopresti has come to the rescue of researchers looking for data on the situation of women in U.S. federal statistics since 1790. He has produced a comprehensive catalog of sources, subjects, and supporting literature, and organized the material into a accessible chapters by subject. Extensive footnotes and bibliography take the reader to additional information. This is an essential book for anyone asking questions about data on women. Lopresti also explains how and why the data came to be as they are. No more, 'lies, damn lies, and statistics.' We can see how the history of women in America can be read through the federal statistical data collections, and even how the 'mismeasurement,' as he puts it, can help us understand the long struggle for the emancipation of women."

Donald A. Coffin

"In ways we are not conscious of, decisions we make about what information to compile about people’s lives and how to store and present that information will influence how our lives will be perceived 100 or 200 years from now. In the same way, decisions made 100 or 200 years ago about what information to gather—largely by the U.S. Bureau of the Census—shape how we perceive the lives of the people who lived then, and how (and how much) they have changed. Robert Lopresti has taken a long, careful look at the Census data on women’s lives (and by extension, everyone’s lives), and what his work reveals seems to me to be essential for historians and readers of history interested in understanding those lives and in understanding how our lives are different."

Cassandra Hartnett

"When Women Didn’t Count is a highly readable, thought-provoking investigation of U.S. federal government statistics gathering about women. Synthesizing sources such as instructions to Census enumerators about determining marital status, technical documentation with hypotheses on data limitations, and contemporary feminist scholarship, Rob Lopresti paints a vivid picture of misrepresentation and gender role reinforcement that is as American as apple pie. With an uncanny sensitivity about the nuances of government literature drawn from his longtime role as a federal documents librarian, the author leaves us more deeply informed about our statistical surroundings, and many of the ways in which we got here. Librarians, teachers, and scholars working in the areas of U.S. history, gender studies, social sciences, and cultural studies will find this to be an incredibly useful text."

Editorial Reviews

The author seeks . . . to provide, and does so quite compellingly, an examination of why certain questions were asked, which in turban then generated those numbers, and the ways in which those questions changed over time, thus shaping the representation of women within this official historical record. . . . . [I]t is especially intriguing to see how the author clarifies the impact of changing occupations and new technologies and how they affected women at work, and the need to be able to provide data to effect social change. . . . Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries.” —Choice

“Some questions have no accurate answers. This is especially true of government statistics on women, as Lopresti demonstrates this beautifully in When Women Didn't Count. . His treatise on the subject is enlightening. . . . This book is an important work that sheds light on the sexism that permeates our statistics, even as recently as the last decade.” —Documents to the People

“In nearly every chapter consumers of federal statistics can find important lessons, many of which make it clear that the 'hardness' of numbers often is illusory. . . . In a captivating and often humorous way, Lopresti's documentation of the 'mismeasuring' of women in federal statistics provides a succinct history of women's changing role in American society.” —Population and Development Review

From the Publisher