I've worked off and on for 20 years and still don't have it. But Hayward is disappointed with all the presidential candidates. Hayward is typical of many working women, according to a survey released by the AFL-CIO in conjunction with a conference of about 5,000 unionized women held here in March. Many of these issues could influence the votes of working women and men. Two-thirds of working women with children who were surveyed work at least 40 hours a week.
Women also moonlight on second jobs now nearly as frequently as men do.
Although the gap between men's and women's wages has narrowed in recent decades, most of the change has come from declines in men's pay. Women still make 73 cents on average for every dollar that men make, sometimes because of overt discrimination but more often because women are still concentrated in jobs stereotyped as female. Advocates for working women now seek federal legislation that would extend existing anti-discrimination laws to guarantee equal pay for jobs of comparable worth. The reason they're working all the extra hours or off hours is because they're not hopeful about getting other solutions. One new issue to emerge from the latest survey is paid leave.