President Obama Will Sign Two Executive Orders To Help Ensure Equal Pay For Women

Tomorrow, President Barack Obama will sign two executive orders relating to wage transparency.

The first will stop contractors from taking legal action against workers who publicly discuss their wages.

The second executive order, which will require employers to provide worker compensation data organized by gender and race, will have important implications for helping women prove unequal pay situations.

Although these orders only apply to federal contractors (roughly equaling about one-forth of the US workforce), the increased oversight and transparent information will help female workers and other advocates uncover income inequality and other gender-motivated violations of fair pay laws.

Hopefully  the Paycheck Fairness Act (set to be debated on in the Senate this week) will be signed and will work with the two executive orders to make the whole 77-cents-to-the-dollar a thing of the past.

Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU senior legislative counsel, agrees, saying:

"Congress still needs to do its part and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, but we're one step closer to achieving pay equity thanks to this White House."

These executive orders are a huge step in the right direction for ensuring an end to the gender wage gap, and show that POTUS is finally making good on his promise for equality for women in the workplace.

via Huffington Post, Photo Credit: WENN