This morning's Huffington Post...

Has a piece by Martha Burk about Equal Pay Day - the day we "celebrate" (and I'm using that term loosely) when women stop working for free each year due to the wage gap. A vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (an addition to or reinstatement of - depending on your perspective - the Equal Pay Act of 1963) was blocked this week in Congress by Republicans.

Burk says: "The vote is particularly unfortunate when you break the numbers down. That 77 cent figure is only an average. Women of color fare much worse; African American women get 72%, Hispanic sisters make 59%, and Native American women come in last, bringing in only 58 cents to the man's dollar. That means a big part of the female population is dragging along near the bottom. Over a work life, pay gaps like these add up to more than $500,000. It means the difference between owning a home and renting, sending your kids to college versus sending them to flip burgers, and a decent retirement versus struggling in old age."

Read the entire piece here.

What can we do (beside get really, really angry)? Educate yourself about it. Write to your state representatives. Ask for a raise (skip to Chapter 7, "Mind the Gap," if you're in a hurry).