What's the individual damage from gender inequality in theworkplace? For the average U.S. woman it's more than$430,000 over the course of her career, according to ananalysis by the National Women's Law Center, a non-profit advocacygroup.

The gender pay-gap issue has come to the fore followingcriticism from President Barack Obama that women earn 79 cents forevery dollar a man makes and demands by actresses including Oscarwinner Jennifer Lawrence and top women'ssoccer players for equal wages to their malecounterparts. Some states have intervened: California lawmakerslast year approved legislation mandating that women and men earnthe same amount for similar work.

“We're in a moment where women are making up an increasing partof the workforce and there's a firm recognition that their salariesmatter to themselves, but also to their families' economicsecurity,” Fatima Goss Graves, a senior vice president atNWLC, said by phone. “We've seen very prominent figures callattention to the wage gap and that's so critical because ithighlights no industry is immune to it.”

For the working women in America, race is also a factor in paydisparity, and to a lesser extent where they live. The gap iswidest for African-American and Latino women in the nation'scapital, Washington, where the gap is $1.6 million to $1.8 millionover a four-decade career, compared with a white, non-Hispanic malewage-earner.

“They are dealing with the double barriers of race and genderdiscrimination,” Graves said. ”And some of it is the concentrationof women of color in some of the lowest-paid fields. Theystill make up a tiny percentage of workers in some of thehigher-paid fields.”

By state, female workers in Louisiana face the highestdiscrepancy — $671,840 — while those in Florida are the leastworse-off with losses of $248,120, according to the study. Onaverage across the country, the wage gap “hasn't budged for nearlya decade,” according to a statement from NWLC.

The NWLC analysis was based on U.S. Census Bureau data fromfull-time, year-round workers, multiplied by 40 years. The figureshaven't been adjusted for inflation. The state data are derivedfrom five-year annual average results in the Census Bureau'sAmerican Community Survey.