Women's economic responsibility for their families has increased as more married women contribute to family income and more mothers head families alone. In view of this fact, a study compared the characteristics of Black, White, and Hispanic working mothers and the factors affecting working mothers' wages. Black working mothers were much less likely to be married to a full-time working spouse, Hispanic working mothers were the least likely to have a high school diploma, Black working mothers were least likely to work in traditionally female occupations, and White working mothers had the highest average hourly wage ($7.81 per hour in 1988 dollars versus $6.69 for Black and $6.42 for Hispanic working mothers). The study also established that family-related characteristics are not significant predictors of the wages of working mothers; human capital, job, and regional characteristics are significant predictors of hourly wage. The following policy strategies are found to be most effective in increasing working mothers' earnings: those that increase women's (1) returns to work experience, (2) education, (3) ability to stay in the work force and (4) those that decrease regional wage disparities. (MN)