WHITE HOUSE VIDEO MESSAGE: Women Deserve Equal Pay for Equal Work

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

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EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, SATURDAY, April 12, 2014

WHITE HOUSE VIDEO MESSAGE: Women Deserve Equal Pay for Equal Work

WASHINGTON, DC – In this week’s message, María Contreras-Sweet, the new Administrator for the Small Business Administration underscored the importance of ensuring equal pay for equal work and highlighted the steps the President has taken to expand opportunity and narrow the pay gap that exists between men and women. This week – on Equal Pay Day – the President took action to increase transparency and make it easier to recognize pay discrimination. Administrator Contreras-Sweet highlighted that the Obama Administration will continue fighting for equal pay because when women succeed, America succeeds.

Remarks of Maria Contreras-Sweet

Spanish Weekly Address

The White House

Hi, everybody.  Earlier this week was Equal Pay Day.  It marks the extra time the average woman has to work into a new year to earn what a man earned the year before.  You see, the average woman who works full-time earns less than a man – even when she’s in the same profession and has the same education. And the wage gap is even larger for working Hispanic women.

It’s wrong.  In 2014, it’s an embarrassment. Women deserve equal pay for equal work.

As the Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, I work every day to make sure that men and women can start a business and make a good wage.

Equal pay is an economic issue that affects all of us.  Women make up about half our workforce.  And more and more, they’re our families’ main breadwinners.  So it’s good for everyone when women are paid fairly.  That’s why, this week, the President has taken action to prohibit more businesses from punishing workers who discuss their salaries – because more pay transparency makes it easier to spot pay discrimination.  And I hope more business leaders will take up this cause.

But equal pay is just one part of an economic agenda for women.

Most lower-wage workers are women.  So the President has taken executive action to require federal contractors to pay their federally-funded employees at least ten-ten an hour.  The President ordered a review of our nation’s overtime rules, to give more workers the chance to earn the overtime pay they deserve.  Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, tens of millions of women are now guaranteed free preventive care like mammograms and contraceptive care, and the days when you could be charged more just for being a woman are over for good.  And we’re organizing women from around the country to help us make sure that a woman can have a baby without sacrificing her job, or take a day off to care for a sick child or parent without hitting hardship. 

The President and this Administration will continue fighting for equal pay. Because we do better when our economy grows for everybody, not just a few.  And when women succeed, America succeeds.  

Thanks, and have a great weekend. 

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The audio of the address and video of the message is available online HERE.