WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei today started airing his second TV ad of his 2014 re-election campaign, using local children to illustrate a message about the wage gap for women.

The 30-second ad, titled “Lemonade Stand,” shows three children at a lemonade stand set up in Syracuse’s Westcott neighborhood, where Maffei was born and raised. As the children split up their proceeds, a boy is paid $10 but a girl who did the same work is paid $8.

Maffei, D-Syracuse, enters the scene and says, “You don’t have to be a grown-up to know that isn’t fair. We’ve got to make sure women get equal pay for equal work. And that they aren’t charged more for health care.”

The commercial is meant to draw attention to Maffei’s support for legislation that encourages equal pay for equal work, said Kane Miller, Maffei’s campaign manager. On average, a woman is paid 77 cents for every dollar paid to a man in the United States.

Maffei is a co-sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill in Congress that requires employers to demonstrate that wage differences among employees are based on factors other than gender. His opponent, Republican John Katko, opposes the legislation and has cited privacy concerns with the proposed law.

“John fully supports equal pay for women,” said Katko campaign spokeswoman Erin O’Connor. “Dan Maffei has had four years in Congress to address this inequality in a responsible way, but has done nothing. To talk about this during an election year sounds like more empty rhetoric from a follower.”

Maffei also supports reforms in the Affordable Care Act to prohibit discrimination based on gender when setting health insurance premiums.

The television ad, whose actors are the children of Maffei’s friends and supporters, will begin airing today on broadcast stations across the 24th Congressional District, Miller said. Maffei has reserved more than $1 million in air time to run TV commercials daily until Election Day, Nov. 4.