In the given function \( P = 0.79x + 20.86 \), \( P \) represents the number of women (in millions) in the workforce. The variable \( x \) denotes the number of years after 1950. Therefore, if you want to find the number of women in the workforce for a specific year, you would substitute the appropriate value of \( x \) into the equation (for example, for the year 1950, \( x = 0 \); for 2020, \( x = 70 \), etc.).
So, to summarize, \( P \) stands for the number of women (in millions) in the workforce.