40 percent of women now say that they are the primary breadwinners for their families. This is a huge shift in the workforce. (I'm not sure if that's because more women are divorced or unmarried or because their work pays better than their husband's work.)

Women are still paid less then men for similar work, reports MSNBC. Actually, it's married women with children who are paid less. Single women have parity with their male counterparts. This is because women with children need more flexible work hours to deal with their care-taking responsibilities. They aren't in the position to bargain for higher salaries, because they are afraid to rock the boat if their boss does allow them some flexibility. They also turn down more work with higher salaries, because the job with longer hours might interfere with family time.

MSNBC correctly points out that the workforce and the schools have been extremely slow to deal with the shift in demographics of the workforce. We need more flexible work options and better after-school care to deal with these shifts.

The Today Show had a segment on this this morning, too.

UPDATE: See Ezra Klein.