Equal pay is about basic justice and fairness and basic family economics. More wives and more mothers work for pay than ever before, and they are working more. Their earnings are essential to family support. Pay discrimination costs women a lot but it robs husbands and families, too.

More Wives Are Working For Pay
In 2003, both parents were employed in 61 percent of two-parent families with children under 18. (U.S. Department of Labor Employment Characteristics of Families in 2003, April 20, 2004).

More Mothers Are Working, Too
Mothers are more likely to participate in the paid labor force than women without children. In 2003, nearly four in every five mothers of school-age children were in the paid workforce. Sixty percent of mothers with children younger than three were in the workforce. In comparison, in 1975, a little more than half of mothers with school-age children were in the workforce.

Women's Wages Make a Big Difference to Working Families
Sixty-two percent of working women in the AFL-CIO's 2004 Ask A Working Woman Survey said they provide half or more of their family's income. Yet, a quarter of working women said their jobs do not provide equal pay. African American women are especially hard hit: Sixty-five percent say they earn half or more of their family’s income, but nearly four in 10 African American women said they didn’t have equal pay.

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Working Men Deserve Equal Pay, Too
Men have another stake in the battle for equal pay: Many get lower pay because of discrimination against women. Men in jobs usually or predominantly held by women, such as sales, service and clerical positions, for example, are also victims of pay bias. For these men, equal pay for women translates into higher pay for them.

A study of several states' efforts to reduce pay discrimination in state employment found that women and men had benefited from wage adjustments in at least 12 states. In Iowa, for example, where wage adjustments for affected workers averaged about $3,500, men were 41 percent of the beneficiaries.

Another analysis found that implementing equal pay for work of equal value nationwide would raise women's wages by 13 percent and men's wages by 1 percent.

To get more information on equal pay and to make your voice heard, join the Working Families e-Activist Network.

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