In 2003, full-time working women earned 76% of what men did. (National Women's Law Center, based on 2004 Census Bureau data, Read it)

In 2001, Hispanic women had the lowest earnings compared to white men, on average, earning 54% of white men's earnings. White women earned 75.1%, while Black women earned 66.8% of white men's earnings. (Institute for Women's Policy Research, 2003, Read it, PDF, 150 KB)

In 2003, real median earnings for women working full-time, year-round fell to $30,724, from $30,895 in 2002. The median earnings of comparable men were essentially unchanged, at $40,668.(National Women's Law Center, Read it)

The erosion of the value of the minimum wage is primarily responsible for the widening gap between middle- and low-wage women. (Appelbaum et al., "The Minimum Wage and Working Women," June 18, 2004, Read it, PDF, 250 KB)

Although women make up 48% of the workforce, they represent 61% of the minimum wage workforce. (Appelbaum et al., "The Minimum Wage and Working Women," June 18, 2004, Read it, PDF, 250 KB)

4.5 million female workers would directly benefit from an increase in the minimum wage. (Appelbaum et al., "The Minimum Wage and Working Women," June 18, 2004, Read it, PDF, 250 KB)

For fact sheets:

Business and Professional Women
Center for Women and Work, Rutgers University
Center for Women Policy Studies
National Committee on Pay Equity
National Women's Law Center

For links to reports, papers, and proceedings, click here to READ IT!

Based on 2004 Census Bureau data, poverty among adult women reached 12.4%, 40% higher than men's rate. (National Women's Law Center, Read it)

In 2000, "[y]oung black women who were working or looking for work were three times as likely as young white women to be living in poverty." (Women's Research and Education Institute, "The American Woman 2003-2004," Read it)

For fact sheets:

National Women's Law Center

For links to reports, papers, and proceedings, click here to READ IT!

"In spite of personal anecdotes highlighted in various news stories, women are not increasingly dropping out of the labor force because of their kids. The main reasons for declining labor force participation rates among women over the last four years appeared to be the weakness of the labor market." (Heather Boushey, "Women Opting Out? Debunking the Myth?" Center for Economic and Policy Research, November 2005, Read it)

Women's share of part-time employment in the U.S. from 1998 through 2001 was approximately 70%. (International Labor Organization, "Key Indicators of the Labor Market," Third Edition, Geneva, 2003, table 5, Read it)

Women's employment patterns are different. They are more likely to work in part-time jobs that don't qualify for pension coverage, or to work fewer years in pension-covered employment because of interruptions in their careers to take care of family members. (U.S. Department of Labor, "Employee Benefits, Security Administration," Read it)

For fact sheets:

National Women's Law Center
Institute for Women's Policy Research

For links to reports, papers, and proceedings, click here to READ IT!