On June 14th, 2016, at the first-ever United State of Women Summit, President Obama announced a new Equal Pay Pledge signed by 28 of America’s leading businesses committed to closing the gender pay gap.
In his remarks, he called on more businesses to step up and pledge themselves to gender equality. On Women’s Equality Day, the White House announced that an additional 29 businesses have signed on to the pledge.
These 29 newly-committed employers bring the total number to more than fifty companies and organizations that collectively employ millions of Americans. The new commitments are from a diverse range of employers, including Apple, CVS, Facebook, Target, Akamai, Dropbox, IBM, Microsoft and Visa.
Equal Pay has been an Administration priority since President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law as his first piece of legislation. Policies that ensure fair pay for all Americans and that help businesses to attract the strongest talent can not only narrow the pay gap, but also boost productivity and benefit the economy.
In 2016, the typical woman still earns only 79 cents for every dollar a typical man earns. That number decreases to 64 cents for African American women, 59 cents for Native American women, and 54 cents for Latinas.
Consortium
A group of White House Equal Pay Pledge employers have formed an independent business consortium, Employers for Pay Equity—to help private industry players share best practices and develop better hiring, promotion, and pay policies.
“The Employers for Pay Equity consortium is comprised of companies that understand the importance of diversity and inclusion, including ensuring that all individuals are compensated equitably for equal work and experience and have an equal opportunity to contribute and advance in the workplace,” the consortium said in their mission statement.
“We are committed to collaborating to eliminate the national pay and leadership gaps for women and ethnic minorities. Toward that end, we have come together to share best practices in compensation, hiring, promotion, and career development as well as develop strategies to support other companies’ efforts in this regard. By doing so, we believe we can have a positive effect on our workforces that, in turn, makes our companies stronger and delivers positive economic impact,” they added.