U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for March 7

WASHINGTON, March 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

FRIDAY, MARCH 7: WOMEN DRIVERS

Profile America -- Friday, March 7th. An amazing statement was made 100 years ago today at a meeting of theCincinnati, Ohio, City Council. Mayor Mark Breith told the council: "Women are not physically fit to operate automobiles." At the time, there were fewer than 200,000 cars in the whole country and they required some strength to start with a hand crank. With the invention of the electric starter in 1911, things began to change and the advertising of the 1920s stressed how easy automobiles were for women to drive. Today, there are just over 200 million licensed drivers in the U.S. divided almost equally between men and women. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau on the Web at http://www.census.gov.

Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments ready to air on a monthly CD or on Internet at http://www.census.gov (look under the "Newsroom" button). For further information, contact Rick Reed at +1-301-763-2812, fax at +1-301-457-3670, or e-mail at rreed(At)census.gov.

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau