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The gender gap in minimum wage

What does the minimum wage have to do with the gender gap? A recent report has the answer--nearly two out of three minimum wage workers are women. 

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What does the minimum wage have to do with the gender gap? A recent report has the answer--nearly two out of three minimum wage workers are women. 

On Saturday, Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress released the latest report on women in America, which found that closing the gender wage gap would increase the average of women's annual earnings $6,000 per year. 

In low-income families, the wage increase would mean a world of difference--70 percent of women in the bottom fifth income distribution are the primary providers for their families. And 70 percent of married women in low-income families report that without a their and their partner's income, the family would fall into deeper poverty. 

With more single women earning less for their families than single men, it's no wonder that one out of three people in single-mother households live in poverty. 

The wage gap for Latinas is particularly wide. Latinas earn 55 cents for ever dollar paid to white men, compared to 64 cents for African American women and 80 cents for white women. 

In an interview on Friday, Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) told AL DIA News that raising the minimum wage would reduce short term poverty and the lives of children across the country. 

But for single working mothers, the challenges of minimum wage jobs are more complicated. Minimum wage workers are less likely to have paid sick leave and flexible working hours, increasing the burden of childcare costs. The report recommends increases in wage as well as change of policy in paid sick and maternity leave throughout the country.

The Shriver Report, which includes essays and stories of women across the country, will be available for a free download until January 15, 2014. 

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