Last week, President Obama stood up on behalf of America’s women, and called on Congress to support the Paycheck Fairness Act. The Paycheck Fairness Act is a comprehensive bill that strengthens the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which made it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who perform substantially equal work. The existing legal tools available to remedy pay discrimination are not enough though, so the President called on Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.
A White House Fact Sheet talks more about the commonsense legislation that would do things like protect employees who share their own salary information at work from retaliation by an employer. There’s also a great new myth-busting blog post from the Department of Labor that answers some frequently asked questions about the pay gap.
One week before the 47th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, the U.S. Senate said no to the Paycheck Fairness Act, but as he outlines in his statement, President Obama will continue to fight for this common sense legislation and women across the country.
Also last week, the White House and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services hosted a Women’s Health Town Hall, where HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Chair of the White House Council on Women & Girls, Valerie Jarrett, and many other notable guests, discussed the benefits of the Affordable Care Act for women and families. In case you missed it you can read a great post recapping the event by the Secretary herself!
In Case You Missed It:
Check out the new “Interactive Timeline: America’s Women Entrepreneurs”
Women entrepreneurs are leading the way in helping our country succeed, and we’ve put together an interactive tool to introduce you to some of America’s women small business owners.
As their stories make clear, women small business owners are an essential part of our economy. Forty years ago, women owned just 5 percent of all small businesses. Today, women own 30 percent, a total of 7.8 million companies generating $1.2 trillion a year in sales.
Keep Our Teachers on the Job: President Obama’s Weekly Address
President Obama urges Congress to take action now to put our teachers back to work in classrooms, because the best predictor of individual and American success in this economy is a good education.
Get Updates
If you received this email from a friend or colleague and aren’t already receiving our email updates, sign up for our newsletter using this form. We would like to send you updates and engage with you in other ways. Please fill out this contact form if you are interested.
Leave a Reply