In the late 1960s, when the second wave of the feminist movement gained support among American women, they frequently could be seen sporting buttons that said “59 cents.”

At the time, the average woman who worked outside the home earned only 59 cents for the average salary brought home by a man.

Things have changed, but not that much. Today, the working woman does earn more — 77 cents for each dollar a man makes.

So it’s appropriate that today, with Single Working Women’s Week beginning Sunday, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act, H.R. 1338. An e-mail from the American Association of University Women Action Network encourages members to call their representatives and urge them to vote for the measure.

“The Paycheck Fairness Act would update and strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963, closing loopholes and improving the law’s effectiveness,” the e- mail states. “Equal pay for equal work is a simple matter of justice for women, and a vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act is a critical step forward in our goal to close the persistent and sizable wage gaps between men and women.”

The organization Women Employed offers these facts about working women on its womenemployed.org Web site:

• Nearly 15 million women in this country earn less than $25,000 a year, despite working in full-time, year-round jobs.

• One in four working families earns too little to meet basic needs.

• Only one in three workers has paid sick leave to care for their children, and 77 percent of the lowest-paid workers have no paid sick leave at all.

• The majority of women work outside the home, with 68 million in the civilian labor force, 63 percent working outside the home, and 54 percent working full time.

• Sixty-seven percent of working women earn half or more of their family’s income, and 77 percent of all mothers with school children, ages 6 through 17, work.

• Education is important. A woman with an associate’s degree earns 28 percent more than one with a high school education; a woman with a bachelor’s degree earns 75 percent more. Still, female high school graduates earn 34 percent less than male high school graduates, and female college graduates 33 percent less than males with an equivalent education.

On the surface, equality for women in the workplace may appear a given. For example, walk into the Bank of America branch in downtown Tahlequah, and odds are that you’ll be greeted by a woman – probably President Beverly Adkisson or Assistant Manager Rachel Younger.

Younger, who is divorced and rearing a 3-year-old son on her salary, never thought she’d be involved in bank management at this stage in her life. She realizes the work women in her mother’s generation accomplished to pave the way for her and her contemporaries.

“I was in retail management for about six years in Tulsa, with Bath and Body Works,” she said. “I moved here to Tahlequah before having my son, and I knew I didn’t want to go back there.”