What do Irish Heritage and Women's History Month have to do with the Census?

Did you know that in 1987 the U.S. Congress first proclaimed March as Women's History Month?  And in 1995 Congress first proclaimed March as Irish-American Heritage Month?

And you may be wondering what does this have to do with Census Data?

The answer is that the Census Bureau releases "Facts for Features" and "Special Editions" that consist of collections of statistics from the Census Bureau's demographic and economic subject areas intended to commemorate anniversaries or observances or to provide background information for topics in the news.

These special releases are collected and made available on the Facts for Features web page.

So why was March chosen for Irish-American Heritage and Women's History? Well, you can probably guess that the St. Patrick's Day celebration on March 17 led to the month of March being chosen for the Irish heritage designation.  But the Women's History Month designation finds it's roots in a March 8, 1857 protest of working conditions by women factory workers in New York City . This led to an International Women's Day observation that eventually was expanded to Women's History Month.

The Facts for Features release states that 12% of Americans who designate an ancestry claim Irish ancestry and using American Fact Finder we find that 14% of Kentuckians claim Irish ancestry.

The Facts for Features article on Women's History Month states that there were 155.8 million females in the USA and 151.8 million males as of October 1, 2009 and 82.8 million of the females were also mothers.  No wonder so many flowers are sold for Mothers Day!