President Obama is pushing Congress to pass equal pay legislation. While gender discrimination in pay was banned by law in 1963, the sad reality is that women still earn on average 77 cents to every dollar earned by men. For Latina and African-American women, it is even less. The reasons are complex. The law will push for transparency in making public the wages and salaries paid to all employees in the same business or work place. That is a start. If you do not know what competitors are paid, it is hard to negotiate for higher salaries. The other issues are harder to tackle. Women disproportionately end up in part-time work without benefits and even when they have full-time jobs, are less likely to be promoted to positions that pay more. In addition, women often go into fields that are paid much less relative to others; occupations like teaching, social work, etc. But Obama’s plan is a first step to call attention again to this issue and the need to find solutions, especially as the percentage of single mothers continues to increase and more and more women are supporting themselves and their children. How much of an issue do you see this to be for your generation? Holly Mathews