Radcliffe fellows look at 'ordinary heroines'

American women who work full-time earn an average of 74 cents for each dollar earned by men. The gender discrepancy is most pronounced among low-income workers. Millions of women struggle to rear children on low wages and with few paths toward career advancement. A group of fellows from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has investigated how these women hold down jobs, care for their families, and pursue their dreams in low-income America. The fellows have analyzed the situation of low-income working women from the perspectives of psychology, anthropology, and sociology. They see these women as "ordinary heroines" who have persevered despite the fact that they have not benefited from the nationwide economic growth of recent years.