March is Women's History Month

A 1944 photograph of Jeanette Lee, the first female letter carrier in Chicago, IL, courtesy of National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

March is National Women’s History Month — a celebration of women’s contributions to the nation’s culture, history and society.

Approximately 139 million workers make up the civilian workforce in America, and 53 percent are women. More than 1.8 million women serve in America’s armed forces and 911,285 women-owned employer firms employed 7.6 million persons generating $1 trillion in revenue.

In 1960, 104 women letter carriers worked for the Postal Service. By 1983, the number had grown to 8,000 — 4 percent of the total number of letter carriers employed by USPS. By 2007, 59,700 women were working as letter carriers and 36,600 as rural carriers, representing 40 percent of the carrier workforce. The percentage of women in the postal workforce has grown steadily over the years.

The Postal Service’s workforce today includes more than 234,000 women. Today’s Postal Service also parallels the national growth of women in management roles. Approximately 30

percent of the Postal Service’s executives are women.

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum website has a series of virtual exhibits showcasing women celebrated on American stamps and online information about the role of women in the history of America’s postal system. Click here to view these exhibits. Also, click here to read an article about the role of women letter carriers.