[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 70 (Thursday, April 11, 2013)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 21813-21814]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-08728]



[[Page 21811]]

Vol. 78

Thursday,

No. 70

April 11, 2013

Part V





The President





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Proclamation 8955--National Equal Pay Day, 2013



Proclamation 8956--National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, 
2013
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  Federal Register / Vol. 78 , No. 70 / Thursday, April 11, 2013 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 21813]]

                Proclamation 8955 of April 8, 2013

                
National Equal Pay Day, 2013

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Over the past 4 years, the American people have come 
                together to lift our economy out of recession and forge 
                a foundation for lasting prosperity. Our businesses 
                have created millions of new jobs, our stock market is 
                rebounding, and our housing market has begun to heal. 
                But even now, too many Americans are seeing their hard 
                work go unrewarded because of circumstances beyond 
                their control. Women--who make up nearly half of our 
                Nation's workforce--face a pay gap that means they earn 
                23 percent less on average than men do. That disparity 
                is even greater for African-American women and Latinas. 
                On National Equal Pay Day, we recognize this injustice 
                by marking how far into the new year women have to work 
                just to make what men did in the previous one.

                Wage inequality undermines the promise of fairness and 
                opportunity upon which our country was founded. For 
                families trying to make ends meet, that gap can also 
                mean the difference between falling behind and getting 
                ahead. When working mothers make less than their male 
                counterparts, they have less to spend on basic 
                necessities like child care, groceries, and rent. Small 
                businesses see fewer customers walk through their 
                doors. Tuition payments get harder to afford, and rungs 
                on the ladder of opportunity get farther apart. And 
                just as diminished wages shortchange families, they 
                slow our entire economy--weakening growth here at home 
                and eroding American competitiveness abroad.

                To grow our middle class and spur progress in the years 
                ahead, we need to address longstanding inequity that 
                keeps women from earning a living equal to their 
                efforts. That is why I have made pay equity a top 
                priority--from signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act 
                days after I took office to cracking down on equal pay 
                law violations wherever they occur. And to back our 
                belief in equality with the weight of law, I continue 
                to call on the Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness 
                Act.

                Our country has come a long way toward ensuring 
                everyone gets a fair shot at opportunity, no matter who 
                you are or where you come from. But our journey will 
                not be complete until our mothers, our wives, our 
                sisters, and our daughters are treated equally in the 
                workplace and always see an honest day's work rewarded 
                with honest wages. Today, let us renew that vision for 
                ourselves and for our children, and let us rededicate 
                ourselves to realizing it in the days ahead.

[[Page 21814]]

                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 9, 2013, 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 inequality, and join 
                efforts to achieve equal pay.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
                seventh.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2013-08728
Filed 4-10-13; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F3