The lack of affordable childcare is a significant limitation on a woman's success at work. If a mother has no way to care for her children while she works, she faces a lose-lose proposition. She can stay with the children and lose her job, or she must pay half her income—or more—to have someone care for the children while she works.

Could you live this way? Could your sister? Your mother? Your daughter?

You do the math.

• In 2001 in Cook County, a single mother with one child had to spend an average of $2,183 each month—or $26,196 annually—on housing, childcare, food, transportation, healthcare, and miscellaneous expenses, exclusive of taxes. That leaves nothing for self-education, insurance, savings, unexpected needs, or emergencies. With two children, the mother's monthly expenses rose to $2,736—or $32,832.
• A woman working fulltime needs to earn $18.29 an hour to afford a typical two-bedroom apartment in Chicago. Put another way, a woman working for minimum wage would need to work 142 hours a week just to afford rent.
• The Federal government defines the poverty line for a family of four as $18,660—or $1,555 a month. In the Chicago area, average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,087, or almost $13,000 a year. This leaves little or nothing for other necessities.
• Many women are ineligible for or are unaware of programs that could assist them with childcare, healthcare, financial planning, and education. Fewer than 15% of working women with an income less than $20,000 receive any public assistance.