National Equal Pay Day, 2011

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 8653 of April 11, 2011

National Equal Pay Day, 2011

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Generations of women have fought for the advancement of
their sisters, daughters, and themselves in acts of
great courage--reaching for and winning the right to
vote, breaking barriers in America's universities and
boardrooms, and flooding the modern workforce with
skilled talent. While our Nation has come far,
obstacles continue to exist for working women, who
still earn less on average than working men. Each year,
National Equal Pay Day reflects how far into the
current year women must work to match what men earned
in the previous year. On National Equal Pay Day, we
rededicate ourselves to carrying forward the fight for
true economic equality for all, regardless of gender.

When the Equal Pay Act was signed into law in 1963,
women earned 59 cents for every dollar earned by men.
Though women today are more likely than men to attend
and graduate from college, women still earn an average
of only about 77 cents for every dollar a man earns.
Even when accounting for factors such as experience,
education, industry, and hours, this wage gap persists.
Over the course of her lifetime, this gap will cost a
woman and her family lost wages, reduced pensions, and
diminished Social Security benefits. Though we have
made great strides, wage discrimination is real and
women are still more likely to live in poverty. These
inequities remind us to work even harder to close the
gaps that still exist.

At a time when families across this country are
struggling to make ends meet, National Equal Pay Day
reminds us that achieving equal pay for equal work is
not just a women's issue--it is a family issue. In
today's world, women represent both powerful consumers
and vital wage earners. Women make up nearly half of
the labor force and mothers are the primary or co-
breadwinners in two-thirds of families. When women are
not paid fairly, the families that depend on their
earnings suffer.

That is why one of my first acts as President was to
sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a law that
empowers women who have been discriminated against in
their salaries to have their day in court to make it
right. I established the National Equal Pay Enforcement
Task Force to identify persistent challenges to equal
pay enforcement and ensure equal pay laws are
vigorously enforced throughout our country. My
Administration also published Women in America:
Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being, the first
comprehensive Federal report on the status of American
women in almost 50 years, which documents that although
women have higher graduation rates than men at all
academic levels, the wage gap still persists. We are
pursuing these efforts because of the simple fact that
when women are paid fairly, our whole Nation will
benefit.

Achieving equal pay for women is vital to strengthening
the future prosperity of our country. For the sake of
our daughters and granddaughters, we must renew our
commitment to eliminating the barriers women face in
the workforce and give both women and men the
opportunity to reach greater heights.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim April 12, 2011, as
National Equal Pay Day. I call upon all Americans to
recognize the full value of women's skills and their
significant contributions to the labor force,
acknowledge the injustice of wage discrimination, and
join efforts to achieve equal pay.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord two
thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.