What better way to honor the unsung financial contributions of these women? It would also send a signal to black women to make financial health a critical part of their everyday lives and foster the necessary push for financial mentoring.

She woke up every morning at 4:30 a.m., made lunches, cooked a hot breakfast for the family (I’m talking bacon and eggs) and then drove an hour north of where we lived to work in an enclosed room with no ventilation, applying airplane glue to seams on rainwear.

Rosario Pérez helms a social enterprise for women that has disbursed more than $1 billion in small loans to women in Latin America. Here she talks about her organization, herself and a client base that has a strong drive for financial independence.

Low wages, a predatory mortgage crisis and other historical factors have caused a gaping wealth gap between black and white women. The good news: jobs with benefits can tackle that disparity.

Time-and-a-half for managers making $23,600 to $50,440 a year? That means crucial extra income for lots of women of color who run fast food chains and retail stores. For single moms it could be the difference between poverty and finally earning enough.

These workers, predominantly female, are still excluded from the basic minimum wage and overtime protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Labor Department is waiting for a district court ruling to change that.

When women of color take the lead in organizing co-workers into labor unions, they are extremely successful, a 2007 study found. A new “love letter” to black women picks up on that data and urges that they rise in the labor’s ranks to benefit all U.S. workers.

The hard and intimate work of personal care assistants allows those with a disability or illness to live an active life. While $15 an hour doesn’t come close to compensating for all their work, it’s a start.

Her employer, a Chinese businesswoman, yelled at her, made death threats and cut her position without warning. In a haze of desperation she remembered a card in her wallet that another Filipina domestic helper had given her to call in an emergency.