While the past 10 years have been marked by major gains for working women, the overall status of working women has improved very little. The profile of the working woman today is different from that of 25 years ago. Today over 44 million women work. Of these, 7 million belong to minority groups. Since 1930 families headed by women have tripled in number, and only 56 percent of working women are married. Women have consistently remained clustered in certain occupations associated with low-paying, dead-end, tedious jobs. Women not only receive lower wages relative to men, but their economic status is actually deteriorating. The unemployment rate for women is consistently higher than for men. Data indicate that women are denied equal pay for equal work, jobs traditionally held by women rate lower salaries, and women are denied access to higher paying jobs. Department of Labor projections indicate a dramatic increase in the number of women in the labor force by 1990. If women are to achieve economic equality, the public and private sectors must make closing the wage gap a national imperative. (MN)