(2)
While women in management still face daunting barriers (they comprise only 2-3 percent of top management), Nussbaum points to figures that are even more infuriating: Working women have median weekly earnings that are only 75 percent of similarly employed men; nearly 80 percent of women still earn less than $25,000 a year (see chart). Two out of every three mothers with children under 18 are in the workforce; since women make less than men and often must take time out of the labor force to raise children or care for elderly relatives, they have smaller pensions, too.

The bureau, which was created in 1920 to "promote the welfare of wage-earning women," launched a campaign earlier this year to alert working women of their rights regarding sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, and the new Family and Medical Leave Act. The campaign and the "Working Women Count!" survey underscore Nussbaum's mission to help women balance work and family responsibilities. She has also traversed the country to talk to working women. In Denver, a data processor told Nussbaum how her boss had called the hospital where she was being treated for a miscarriage to bawl her out for missing work. In San Francisco, a nurse said her early shift meant phoning her children to get them out of bed for school. Others spoke of family emergencies that threatened their job security or just their ability to sleep at night.

"Women don't need to live this way," Nussbaum says. "We need a national discussion on how to have a human life. Government will listen."

Printed in several languages, "Working Women Count!" asks respondents about what they would tell President Clinton about their lives as working women, their views on child and elder care, and their opportunities for advancement. Says Nussbaum, "I can't wait to read the notes scrawled in the margins."
