[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 73 (Thursday, April 16, 2015)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 21149-21150]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-08956]



[[Page 21147]]

Vol. 80

Thursday,

No. 73

April 16, 2015

Part V





The President





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Proclamation 9255--National Equal Pay Day, 2015
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  Federal Register / Vol. 80 , No. 73 / Thursday, April 16, 2015 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 21149]]

                Proclamation 9255 of April 13, 2015

                
National Equal Pay Day, 2015

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                In the United States, the promise of opportunity is 
                built on the idea that everyone who works hard should 
                have the chance to get ahead. This creed is at the core 
                of our democracy, and it is central to our belief that 
                America does best when all people are able to share in 
                our Nation's prosperity and contribute to our success. 
                Yet every day, countless women perform the same work as 
                their male colleagues only to earn less than their fair 
                share. On National Equal Pay Day, we mark how far into 
                the new year women would have to work just to earn the 
                same as men did in the previous year, and we renew our 
                efforts to end this injustice.

                On average, full-time working women earn 78 cents for 
                every dollar earned by men, and women of color face an 
                even greater disparity. This wage gap puts women at a 
                career-long disadvantage, and it harms families, 
                communities, and our entire economy. Today, in more 
                than half of all households, women are breadwinners--49 
                million children depend on women's salaries. But our 
                economy and our policies have not caught up to this 
                reality. When women experience pay discrimination it 
                limits their future, and it also hurts the people they 
                provide for. It means less for their families' everyday 
                needs, for investments in their children's futures, and 
                for their own retirements. These effects reduce our 
                shared prosperity and restrict our Nation's economic 
                growth. Wage inequality affects us all, and we each 
                must do more to make certain that women are full and 
                equal participants in our economy.

                When we take action to help women succeed, we help 
                America succeed, and my Administration is committed to 
                ensuring women have every opportunity to reach their 
                fullest potential. The first bill I signed as President 
                was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and the following 
                year--to crack down on violations of equal pay laws--I 
                created the National Equal Pay Task Force, which to 
                date has helped women recover millions of dollars in 
                lost wages. If workers do not know they are underpaid, 
                they cannot challenge the inequality; that is why we 
                are going to require Federal contractors to submit data 
                on employee compensation, including data by sex and 
                race, and why last year I signed an Executive Order 
                prohibiting Federal contractors from retaliating 
                against employees who choose to discuss their pay. And 
                I continue to call on the Congress to pass the Paycheck 
                Fairness Act to protect all people's fundamental right 
                to a fair wage.

                In the last half-century, our economy has changed in 
                many ways for the better because of the increased 
                participation of women. But our values are not yet 
                fully reflected in how we pay women. We tell our 
                daughters that in America there are no limits to what 
                they can achieve--yet their mothers face persistent 
                barriers to equality and success. We have to do better 
                because our daughters deserve better. If we come 
                together, we can change the policies and attitudes that 
                hold women back, and we can fix this. On this day, we 
                recommit to making equal pay a reality, and we continue 
                our work to build a world where all our children are 
                limited only by the size of their dreams and the power 
                of their imaginations.

[[Page 21150]]

                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 14, 2015, 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 
                thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand fifteen, and of the Independence of the United 
                States of America the two hundred and thirty-ninth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2015-08956
Filed 4-15-15; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F5