Presidential Document2023-05510
National Equal Pay Day, 2023
Primary source
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Published
March 16, 2023
Signed
March 13, 2023
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 51 (Thursday, March 16, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 51 (Thursday, March 16, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 16169-16170]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-05510]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 88 , No. 51 / Thursday, March 16, 2023 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 16169]]
Proclamation 10530 of March 13, 2023
National Equal Pay Day, 2023
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Despite historic growth, rising wages, and unemployment
at a near record low, women working full-time, year-
round are paid an average 84 cents for every dollar
paid to men. Pay disparities are even more pronounced
for Black women, Native American women, Latinas, many
Asian American women, and women with disabilities. On
Equal Pay Day, we call attention to this injustice and
the pay disparities that add up to hundreds of
thousands of dollars in lost income over a lifetime,
undermining financial security for women and families
across our Nation. My Administration is working to
change that.
Discrimination accounts for some of the pay gap. In
nearly every job--90 percent of occupations, from
retail to business to professional sports--women are
still paid, on average, less than men. They can be the
very best at what they do but still have to fight for
equal pay. The pay gap also stems from women's
disproportionate caregiving responsibilities for
children and aging loved ones, which can force them to
forgo job opportunities, reduce their work hours, or
leave the workforce at times. And part of it is due to
the fact that women are underrepresented in careers
that offer good pay and benefits, while fields where
they are overrepresented, like teaching and nursing, do
not pay what they should, despite being critical to our
communities and economy.
To right that wrong and truly level the playing field,
we need to not only crack down on discrimination but
also address the systemic issues behind the pay gap. My
Administration has been laser-focused on rooting out
pay inequity and dismantling the barriers that women
face in the workplace and across our economy. When
COVID-19 forced millions of women out of the workforce,
often to care for their families at home, women's labor
participation fell to its lowest level in 35 years. But
we sent billions in direct stimulus relief to families
to help make ends meet. We provided another $24 billion
in funds to stabilize child care providers, supporting
working parents. Today, millions of American women are
back at work--and a record 12 million jobs have been
created since I took office, with many more to come in
good-paying clean energy and semiconductor careers of
the future. And we are working to ensure that those
workers who will power our economy for years to come
have access to child care, giving women more
opportunities to succeed.
Meanwhile, I took executive action to raise the minimum
wage that Federal contractors are required to pay their
workers, directly benefiting tens of thousands of
women. I also issued Executive Orders to consider the
use of salary history in pay-setting decisions for
Federal workers and to promote efforts to achieve pay
equity for job applicants and employees of Federal
contractors. I have fought for every worker's right to
join a labor union and collectively bargain, which has
been proven to lift women's wages, and I also signed
historic legislation strengthening workplace
protections and support for pregnant women and nursing
mothers. I will never stop pushing to expand access to
quality child and elder care while boosting pay for
professional caregivers, who are disproportionately
women of color.
[[Page 16170]]
We have used the power of our example and put women at
the head of the table across the highest levels of
Government--from the Vice Presidency, to the Supreme
Court, to the most diverse Cabinet in our history,
which is the first ever to have equal numbers of women
and men. Doing so sets expectations for women leaders
across the country and in every workplace and shows our
daughters and granddaughters that there is nothing a
man can do that a woman cannot do.
But we clearly still have a long way to go. To tackle
pay discrimination head-on, I continue to urge the
Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would
increase transparency, making it harder for employers
to justify disparities and easier for workers to hold
them accountable. Information is power, and people need
to know if they are being unfairly paid. We also have
to get more families the support needed for both women
and men to lead full careers--including paid family and
medical leave and affordable child, elder, and home
care so no one in this country is ever again forced to
choose between the job they need and the family they
love.
I have often said that a job is about more than a
paycheck--it is about dignity and respect. It is about
honoring the basic bargain that when you work hard in
this country, you get ahead. Equal pay is about justice
and fairness and living up to our values and who we are
as a Nation. Together, we have to make sure that our
daughters have the same rights and opportunities as our
sons.
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 14,
2023, 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 March, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
seventh.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2023-05510
Filed 3-15-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on March 16, 2023.
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