President Biden marked Equal Pay Day on Tuesday with a series of moves he said would close the gender pay gap for federal workers, including an executive order encouraging agencies to consider banning contractors from seeking information about job applicants’ salary history.
The other moves included a Labor Department directive clarifying that federal contractors are expected to conduct an audit of their payrolls each year to guard against pay disparities based on gender, race or ethnicity.
“Gender equality is not a women’s issue alone, it benefits everyone — our society, our economy and our country,” Mr. Biden said at the event that was held the day after Equal Pay Day, which fell on Monday.
At the Capitol, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for reviving Mr. Biden’s defunct $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act to help close the gender pay gap. She said the plans to subsidize paid family leave, provide universal preschool and make direct payments to parents would boost women in the workforce.
“Lowering the cost of childcare is one of the most important things that we can do to make sure that women can take the comfortable rightful place in the workforce without worrying about the safety and security of their children,” Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, said at a press conference.
She was joined by equal pay activists, Labor Department officials, and Reps. Jackie Speier of California and Brenda Lawrence of Michigan, who co-chair the Democratic Women’s Caucus.
In 2020, women on average made 83 cents on the dollar compared to men, according to the White House. The gender pay gap for federal employees decreased since 1999 to 93 cents on the dollar compared to men in 2020, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office.
The same study also found that the pay gap is greater for women who are Black, Hispanic and American Indian.
Conservative activists said the gender pay gap is a myth.
The Independent Women’s Forum, a right-leaning nonprofit focusing on economic policy effects on women, blamed the purported pay gap on women’s personal decisions, rather than structural barriers.
“The raw wage gap does not compare women and men in the same profession who work the same hours, in the same work conditions, with the same qualifications, experience and talent,” the group said on its website. “Men and women of all races make many different choices based on what’s best for them as individuals and families.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
• Mica Soellner can be reached at msoellner@washingtontimes.com.
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