[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 127, 113th Congress, 1st Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
PROCLAMATION 8955--APR. 8, 2013

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.


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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.
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.
BARACK OBAMA