Gender
The concepts of gender and sex are much studied today, but the 1910 census assumed a simple binary choice for the "Sex" question - it instructed its enumerators (those who asked the questions and wrote down the answers) to simply put "F" for female and "M" for male. The current U.S. Census Bureau acknowledges the complications around the concepts of sex at birth, sexual identity, gender and sexual orientation, but it attempts to avoid confusion in the census by asking respondents to simply identify "how they currently identify their sex."
1910 Population by Gender
The majority of residents in Willimantic in 1910 were females. According to the census data, there were approximately 5900 (54.5%) females and 4924 (45.5%) males, with females outnumbering males by almost 1000. This prevalence of females over males can be seen in almost all age groups. The largest two groups of females were ages 15-19 and 20-24, this was likely the case because of the young women who were hired to work at the mills. The male population was also the largest in these same age groups. This observation further suggests there was an influx of young workers to Willimantic due to immigration. We hope to further analyze this question in the future, considering households, family names and occupations.
2020 Population by Gender
Overall in 2020, the population shrinks and expands for different age groups and gender. The increases and decreases in gender are not of the same degree between genders. In a younger age category there may have a lower amount of men and then in the next category there is a significantly higher one; whereas for women, that change may not be as much. This can be best exemplified by the population of males and females in Willimantic of elderly residents. The population between males and females in Willimantic remains similar in ages 65-79 with some expected change due to the fact that females tend to live longer than males do. For female residents ages 75+ and up though, there is a noticeable irregularity for the number of females increases dramatically once they reach ages 85+ and up in comparison to residents aged 80-84 and elderly males. This could be in part to senior living homes and services in Willimantic. Another significant observation worth making is the high number of males ages 20-24 in Willimantic in comparison to females. As the population pyramid for 2020 excludes Eastern Connecticut State University on-campus residential students, it is likely that the large number of males ages 20-24 is due to men who do jobs of a technical nature and construction.
1910 and 2020: Analysis
In both 1910 and 2020, women were the majority of the population in Willimantic with only a 2% decrease of the majority gender in 2020. In both population pyramids, the biggest population is that of female residents ages 15-19. A notable difference between the populations of Willimantic in 1910 versus 2020 is the increase of residents ages 40+ and up for both genders, something that can be attributed to improvements in medicine and care. Overall, population in 2020 was more fluctuating and less predictable between age groups than it was in 1910.