Women

Happy International Women’s Day! Today we have a lot to celebrate. From the recently strengthened Violence Against Women Act, to the establishment of the White House Council on Women and Girls, the Obama administration has been a leader on the road to gender equality for women and girls both here and abroad.

Today, President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Act into law. This law strengthens the criminal justice system’s response to crimes against women, including domestic violence, sexual assault, and trafficking.

Women’s History Month is a time when I reflect on all of the strong women who have worked tirelessly to ensure that my voice can be heard. In order for women to continue to forge ahead on the path to full equality, we must have equal pay for equal work. One of the highlights of President Obama's State of the Union speech was making sure hard work leads to a decent living wage. Our economy is strongest when we are expanding opportunity and rewarding the hard work of every American. Raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour and closing the pay gap builds a ladder of opportunity into the middle class for those willing to climb it.

Women’s History Month is an opportunity to focus on the many women who have immigrated here and forged the nation we know today, including the first female U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright; Dr. Rita M. Rodriguez, the first woman to teach at Harvard Business School; and Maya Lin, the architect of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. While the achievements of these women are significant, women’s history also includes the unnamed women who advanced the course of our country.