US President Joe Biden shared a handwritten letter from a little girl named Charlotte on Twitter, calling on him to "fix" the gender pay gap to mark "Equal Pay Day". Equal Pay Day is a symbolic day dedicated to raising awareness about gender pay gap in the US.
The day was first observed by the US National Committee on Pay Equity in the 1990s. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris announced measures to close the gender and racial wage gap to mark the day.
Biden assured that “he is committed to building an economy where his daughters have the same rights and opportunities as his sons”.
However, many Twitter users questioned the validity of the note.
Charlotte, I couldn’t agree more.
Women lose thousands of dollars each year, and hundreds of thousands over a lifetime, because of gender and racial wage gaps.I’m committed to building an economy where my daughters have the same rights and opportunities as my sons. pic.twitter.com/0vholYMTaR— President Biden (@POTUS) March 14, 2023
"Sooo, they have staff writing fake notes from children to Biden now... lol," wrote Tim Young, a comedian and editor.
Another user joked that the author of the letter was none other than Vice President Kamala Harris.
Also read:
Measures announced by The White House
On the same day, the White House made the announcements to close the gender and racial wage gap and boost equal pay for federal workers and employees of federal contractors.
President Biden signed an executive order, which limits the use of salary history in employment decisions by federal contractors.
On an average, women working full-time make just 83 cents for every dollar that a full-time working man makes, Vice President Harris said, as per a Reuters report.
She added that this pay gap is even wider for the women of colour, and over a 40-year career, a working woman loses out on about $400,000 and that wage gap widens to nearly to $1 million for women of colour.
"Gender equality is not a women's issue. It benefits everybody," Biden said in the largest indoor gathering at the White House since he took office, which was attended by nearly 400 women, as per the report.
Current and former members of the US women’s national soccer team were also present at the event. The members reached a $24 million agreement last month on an equal pay dispute with US Soccer.
(Edited by : Jerome Anthony)
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