From The WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; review by Ilene Rosoff This book will open your eyes to the widespread discrimination against women in the marketplace. It is a well-known fact that， across the board， women earn about 70% of what men do. It adds insult to injury to realize that women pay more than men in the world of consumer goods and services and are discriminated against more often in the marketplace， especially when it comes to obtaining credit. A one-time consumer reporter for Newsday and The New York Times， Frances Cerra Whittelsey takes aim at the prime abusers， such as the healthcare， fashion and automotive industries， and looks at the many ways advertising fuels this fire. This book is guaranteed to make your blood boil with solid confirmation for those ripoffs you always suspected and probably questioned in the back of your mind， but never really protested (maybe because you didn't know how). Here is valuable information that every woman should have her hands on to avoid getting burned. Excerpted from Why Women Pay More by Frances Cerra Whittelsey (as appears in The WomanSource Catalog & Review). Copyright(c) 1993. Reprinted by permission， all rights reserved When women get divorced or separated， they sometimes find they can't get credit....If you are married， divorced， separated or widowed， you should check with your credit bureau to ensure that your shared credit history has been reported under your name. As for the issue of free alterations， a few years ago， a California executive got fed up after she was charged $40 to alter a $1500 evening gown， while her husband received extensive alterations to his tuxedo， free. This woman， Lorie Anderson， and a friend and co-worker， Muriel Kaylin Mabry， who also was charged for alterations at the Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills， decided to sue. They enlisted the aid of a well-known sex discrimination lawyer， Gloria Alred， and won a class action suit against Saks. The suit never went to court. Saks settled， claiming they had done nothing wrong， but had always charged men and women the same price for equivalent alterations. Despite this explanation， Saks eliminated or reduced prices for some alterations to hems， sleeves and waists in its 45 branches nationwide. Anderson and Mabry said， with satisfaction， that the change would save them hundreds of dollars a year.