[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 58 (Monday, March 29, 2021)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 16285-16286]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-06538]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 58 / Monday, March 29, 2021 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 16285]]


                Proclamation 10162 of March 24, 2021

                
National Equal Pay Day, 2021

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Equal Pay Day is a reminder of the work that still 
                remains to advance equity and ensure that all Americans 
                have the opportunity to reach their full potential. 
                This day is a symbolic representation of how far into 
                this year women must work to catch up to what men made 
                in the previous year. Women working full-time, year-
                round are typically paid just 82 cents for every dollar 
                paid to men. It is a day that calls us to action--to 
                renew our commitment to the principles of equity and 
                equal opportunity that define who we are as Americans.

                Women lose thousands of dollars each year, and hundreds 
                of thousands over a lifetime, because of the gender and 
                racial wage gap. In 2019, the typical woman who worked 
                full time took home just 82 percent of the typical 
                man's pay. The disparities are even greater for Black, 
                Native American, and Hispanic women, who earned 63 
                percent, 60 percent, and 55 percent of white men's 
                wages, respectively. While Asian American women make 87 
                percent of what white men make, the gap for Asian women 
                varies significantly depending on subpopulation, with 
                some Asian women--for example, Cambodian and Vietnamese 
                women--earning among the lowest wages. Those gaps mean 
                we will not be marking Latinas' Equal Pay Day until 
                October--because it takes that long for the average 
                Latina to earn what the average white man made in the 
                previous year. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, we 
                have seen women, particularly women of color, 
                disproportionately working on the frontlines, caring 
                for our loved ones, and working to combat the virus--
                but they continue to earn less than their male 
                counterparts.

                The Biden-Harris Administration believes that ensuring 
                equal pay is essential to advancing America's values of 
                fairness and equity as well as our economic strength 
                here at home and our competitiveness abroad. The 
                burdens and job losses women sustained this year have 
                erased more than 30 years of progress they have made in 
                the labor force. Due in large part to the impact of the 
                pandemic, there are 4.2 million fewer women working now 
                than there were in February 2020--and millions more 
                women have had to reduce their hours, often in response 
                to caregiving demands that we know fall 
                disproportionately on women. America's economic 
                recovery depends on us addressing the barriers that 
                have hampered women from fully participating in the 
                labor force, resulting in gender income and wealth gaps 
                that have been magnified and exacerbated by COVID-19.

                We must begin by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, 
                which will take important steps towards the goal of 
                ending pay discrimination. For instance, it will ban 
                employers from seeking salary history--removing a 
                common false justification for under-paying women and 
                people of color--and it will hold employers accountable 
                who engage in systemic discrimination. The bill will 
                also work to ensure transparency and reporting of 
                disparities in wages, because the problem will never be 
                fixed if workers are kept in the dark about the fact 
                that they are not being paid fairly. Relying on 
                individuals to uncover unfair pay practices on their 
                own will not get the

[[Page 16286]]

                job done; when pay data is available, workers can 
                better advocate for fair pay and employers can fix 
                inequities.

                We must also provide paid family and medical leave, 
                make schedules more predictable and childcare more 
                affordable, and build pipelines for training that 
                enable women to access higher-paying jobs. This 
                commitment also means increasing pay for childcare 
                workers, preschool teachers, home health aides, and 
                others in the care economy--and taking additional steps 
                to increase wages for American workers, such as raising 
                the minimum wage and empowering workers to organize and 
                collectively bargain, both of which are important to 
                reducing the wage gap for women.

                Vice President Harris and I are committed to building 
                back better: for low-wage workers, for working 
                families, and for all women. There is still significant 
                work to be done to make sure our daughters receive the 
                same rights and opportunities as our sons, and that 
                work is critical to ensuring that every American is 
                given a fair shot to get ahead in this country. Today, 
                on Equal Pay Day, we recognize the role that equal pay 
                plays in building back better for everyone.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., 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 March 24, 
                2021, 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 
                twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-one, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                fifth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2021-06538
Filed 3-26-21; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F1-P