Recently, on the occasion of Women's Equality Day, US President Obama announced the list of major US tech companies who signed the *White House Equal Pay Pledge to bridge the gender pay gap. Prominent tech companies like Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Intel, IBM and others took the pledge.  

The big announcement happened at the first-ever United State of Women Summit that encouraged companies across America to take action on advance equal pay.

As per *IWPR study - The gender wage gap for weekly full-time workers in the United States widened between 2014 and 2015. In 2015, the ratio of women’s to men’s median weekly full-time earnings was 81.1 percent, a decrease of 1.4 percentage points since 2014, when the ratio was 82.5 percent. Women’s median weekly earnings for full-time work were $726 in 2015 compared with $895 for men. 

Equal pay has been the foremost priority for Obama administration since Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first piece of legislation signed by them. The policy was drafted to ensure fair pay for all Americans by narrowing gender pay gap. Also, this will help boost productivity and benefit for businesses in America. 

The key points of this declaration are: 

• Signatories to conduct an annual company-wide gender pay analysis across occupations.
• Frequent reviewing of hiring and promotions is essential to eradicate structural barriers and biasedness in the system. 
• Equal pay efforts will be rooted in broader enterprise-wide equity initiatives.
• By signing the pledge, companies acknowledged the critical role played by businesses in reducing the national pay gap.

Women’s Equality Day commemorates the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that granted women right to vote. It is also on this day the continued work towards gender equity for all women and girls is observed. 

Source: 

The White House – Press Release - Office of the Press Secretary 

IWPR study