WEEKLY ADDRESS: Women's History Month Highlights the President's Resolve to Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act

8:15 Publicado por Mario Galarza

WEEKLY ADDRESS: Women's History Month Highlights the President's Resolve to Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act | The White House Skip to main content | Skip to footer site map The White House. President Barack Obama Get Email UpdatesContact Us Go to homepage. The White House Blog Photos & Videos Photo Galleries Video Live Streams Podcasts Briefing Room Your Weekly Address Speeches & Remarks Press Briefings Statements & Releases White House Schedule Presidential Actions Executive Orders Presidential Memoranda Proclamations Legislation Pending Legislation Signed Legislation Vetoed Legislation Nominations & Appointments Disclosures Visitor Access Records Financial Disclosures 2010 Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff 2009 Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff Ethics Pledge Waivers Issues Civil Rights It Gets Better Defense The Way Forward in Afghanistan Disabilities Economy Financial Reform Innovation Startup America Education Educate to Innovate Higher Education Race to the Top Commencement Challenge Energy & Environment A New Foundation Deepwater BP Oil Spill Ethics Family Fiscal Responsibility Foreign Policy Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Trip to Asia 2010 Haiti Earthquake Speech in Cairo Health Care Homeland Security Immigration Poverty Rural State Fair Tour Seniors & Social Security Service Taxes Tax Cuts, Unemployment Insurance and Jobs Technology Urban Policy Veterans Women Additional Issues The Administration President Barack Obama Vice President Joe Biden First Lady Michelle Obama Dr. Jill Biden The Cabinet 2010 Video Reports White House Staff Chief of Staff Bill Daley Deputy Chief of Staff Nancy-Ann DeParle Deputy Chief of Staff Alyssa Mastromonaco Counselor to the President Peter Rouse Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett Executive Office of the President Other Advisory Boards About the White House Interactive Tour History White House Rooms White House Art Presidents First Ladies The Oval Office The Vice President's Residence & Office Eisenhower Executive Office Building Camp David Air Force One White House Fellows President’s Commission About the Fellowship Current Class Recent Class Staff Bios White House Internships The Story About Us Program Apply Here Submit a Recommendation Tours & Events 2011 Easter Egg Roll Kitchen Garden Tours Holidays 2010 Inside the White House Our Government The Executive Branch The Legislative Branch The Judicial Branch The Constitution Federal Agencies & Commissions Elections & Voting State & Local Government Resources /* Maximize height of menu features. */if(typeof(jQuery)!='undefined')jQuery.each($('.topnav-feature','#topnav'),function(i,v){var o=$(v),oh=o.height(),sh=o.siblings().height();if(oh Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases table.system-status-report th, table td, table th { padding: 5px;}.item-list ul.pager {margin: 0;}.view-display-id-page_1 {padding: 20px;}.node-form .text {width:95%;}.node-form, #node-delete-confirm, #user-login {max-width:648px;}dl.node-type-list {max-width: 615px; padding: 20px; margin: 20px;}#edit-delete, div.submenu.revisions {display: none;}ul.secondary li {display: block;}ul.secondary a.active {border-bottom: 1px solid #999;} The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release March 12, 2011 WEEKLY ADDRESS: Women's History Month Highlights the President's Resolve to Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act

WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Obama focused on Women’s History Month and paid homage to the accomplishments of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in the effort to increase the role of women in government. Despite the important strides that have been made to create a more equal society, he emphasized his resolve to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act as an important step towards achieving egalitarian status for women.

The audio and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, Saturday, March 12, 2011.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Washington, DC

March is Women’s History Month, a time not only to celebrate the progress that women have made, but also the women throughout our history who have made that progress possible.

One inspiring American who comes to mind is Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1961, the former First Lady was unhappy about the lack of women in government, so she marched up to President Kennedy and handed him a three-page list of women who were qualified for top posts in his administration. This led the President to select Mrs. Roosevelt as the head of a new commission to look at the status of women in America, and the unfairness they routinely faced in their lives.

Though she passed away before the commission could finish its work, the report they released spurred action across the country. It helped galvanize a movement led by women that would help make our society a more equal place.

It’s been almost fifty years since the Roosevelt commission published its findings – and there have been few similar efforts by the government in the decades that followed. That’s why, last week, here at the White House, we released a new comprehensive report on the status of women in the spirit on the one that was released half a century ago.

There was a lot of positive news about the strides we’ve made, even in recent years. For example, women have caught up with men in seeking higher education. In fact, women today are more likely than men to attend and graduate from college.

Yet, there are also reminders of how much work remains to be done. Women are still more likely to live in poverty in this country. In education, there are areas like math and engineering where women are vastly outnumbered by their male counterparts. This is especially troubling, for we know that to compete with nations around the world, these are the fields in which we need to harness the talents of all our people. That’s how we’ll win the future.

And, today, women still earn on average only about 75 cents for every dollar a man earns. That’s a huge discrepancy. And at a time when folks across this country are struggling to make ends meet – and many families are just trying to get by on one paycheck after a job loss – it’s a reminder that achieving equal pay for equal work isn’t just a women’s issue. It’s a family issue.

In one of my first acts as President, I signed a law so that women who’ve been discriminated against in their salaries could have their day in court to make it right. But there are steps we should take to prevent that from happening in the first place. That’s why I was so disappointed when an important bill to give women more power to stop pay disparities – the Paycheck Fairness Act – was blocked by just two votes in the Senate. And that’s why I’m going to keep up the fight to pass the reforms in that bill.

Achieving equality and opportunity for women isn’t just important to me as President. It’s something I care about deeply as the father of two daughters who wants to see his girls grow up in a world where there are no limits to what they can achieve.

As I’ve traveled across the country, visiting schools and meeting young people, I’ve seen so many girls passionate about science and other subjects that were traditionally not as open to them. We even held a science fair at the White House, where I met a young woman named Amy Chyao. She was only 16 years old, but she was actually working on a treatment for cancer. She never thought, “Science isn’t for me.” She never thought, “Girls can’t do that.” She was just interested in solving a problem. And because someone was interested in giving her a chance, she has the potential to improve lives.

That tells me how far we’ve come. But it also tells me we have to work even harder to close the gaps that still exist, and to uphold that simple American ideal: we are all equal and deserving of the chance to pursue our own version of happiness. That’s what Eleanor Roosevelt was striving toward half a century ago. That’s why this report matters today. And that’s why, on behalf of all our daughters and our sons, we’ve got to keep making progress in the years ahead.

Thanks for listening.

Watch the Video

March 12, 2011 6:30 AMWeekly Address: Women’s History Month & Fair Pay Blog posts on this issue March 15, 2011 12:29 PM EDTMeet the Women of the Administration: Taryn Benarroch

As part of our Women's History Month Women in the Administration Series, meet Taryn Benarroch, Confidential Assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Education. In this post, you'll hear about Taryn's role models, her supportive family, her passion for education, and the TEACH initiative she helps run at the Department of Education.

March 14, 2011 4:39 PM EDTWomen in Uniform, From World War Two to Today

In honor of Women's History Month, the VA has posted a set of photos of women in uniform over the last half century. Check them out here.

March 12, 2011 6:30 AM EDTWeekly Address: Women’s History Month & Fair Pay

The President pays homage to former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, commends the great strides that have been made to create a more equal American society, and reaffirms his resolve to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.

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