--- title: White House Gender Pay Gap Hasn't Changed Under President Barack Obama description: The average male White House employee earns over $10,000 more than average female employee canonical: https://time.com/2950240/gender-pay-equity-barack-obama/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-02T15:18:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:02:27.432Z og:title: White House Gender Pay Gap Hasn't Changed Under President Barack Obama og:description: The average male White House employee earns over $10,000 more than average female employee og:url: https://time.com/2950240/gender-pay-equity-barack-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45b9500c2bded87a/69869a4f06f2c1599232fc21/barack-obama1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Gender Pay Gap Hasn't Changed Under President Barack Obama twitter:description: The average male White House employee earns over $10,000 more than average female employee twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45b9500c2bded87a/69869a4f06f2c1599232fc21/barack-obama1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Pay Gap Hasn't Changed Under Obama > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=15bc76d4-cc04-48a7-8778-8313054e8e79&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Obama Takes Action on Equal Pay [Watch (HLS stream): President Obama Takes Action on Equal Pay](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IXg3zfGa.m3u8) (1:27)  _Published 2014-04-08. The President takes executive action on equal pay_  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 2, 2014 3:18 PM UTC  President Barack Obama pauses while speaking about transportation and the economy on July 1, 2014, at the Georgetown Waterfront Park in Washington. President Barack Obama pauses while speaking about transportation and the economy on July 1, 2014, at the Georgetown Waterfront Park in Washington. Charles Dharapak—AP  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 2, 2014 3:18 PM UTC The pay gap between men and women working at the White House has not narrowed since President Barack Obama’s first year in office, according to [a new report](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/male-female-pay-gap-remains-entrenched-at-white-house/2014/07/01/dbc6c088-0155-11e4-8fd0-3a663dfa68ac%5Fstory.html?hpid=z5), despite Obama’s emphasis on pay equity ahead of the midterm elections. Salary data compiled by the Washington _Post_ found a 13% gap between the genders: The average salary for men in the White House is $88,600 per year, while the average salary for women is $78,400 per year, the _Post_ reports. That gap has persisted since 2009, when male employees earned an average of $82,000, and female employees made $72,700. One explanation for the gap is that there are more men than women in higher-paying, senior jobs at the White House: 87 male White House officials earn more $100,000, compared to 53 women. “At the White House, we have equal pay for equal work,” White House spokeswoman Jessica Santillo [told the _Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/male-female-pay-gap-remains-entrenched-at-white-house/2014/07/01/dbc6c088-0155-11e4-8fd0-3a663dfa68ac%5Fstory.html?hpid=z5). “Men and women in equivalent roles earn equivalent salaries, and over half of our departments are run by women.” She added that the White House is working to place more women in senior positions. Obama has argued throughout the year that raising the minimum wage would help women and has [signed two executive orders](http://time.com/50955/obama-executive-order-wage-gap-women/) that aim make workplace pay more transparent and allow women to discover if they are earning less for the same job. The executive orders only apply to federal contractors, but the president has also pushed the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would mandate the same transparency for the general workforce. “A woman deserves equal pay for equal work,” Obama [said in this year’s State of the Union](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/01/29/state-of-the-union-mad-men/) address. “She deserves to have a baby without sacrificing her job,” Obama added. Other parts of the federal government have a similar wage gap. But the 13% gap is still better than that of the nation as a whole, which by one measure has a 23.5% disparity. \[[_Washington Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/male-female-pay-gap-remains-entrenched-at-white-house/2014/07/01/dbc6c088-0155-11e4-8fd0-3a663dfa68ac%5Fstory.html)\] ## Transcript Equal pay for equal work, it's not that complicated. It was the first law he signed in 2009 and President Obama continues to push for equal pay. When the courts didn't answer her call, Congress did. The president referring to Lilly Ledbetter, the equal pay activist, the 2009 law was named after. I was being paid thousands of dollars less than my male counterparts. Obama called today's gender pay gap an embarrassment. Today, the average full- time working woman earns just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. The two executive actions signed by the President only apply to companies with Federal contracts, not for all Americans. The first prohibits Federal contractors from retaliating against employees who discuss pay with each other. Pay secrecy fosters discrimination and we should not tolerate it. The second, a presidential memorandum, asking the Secretary of Labor to collect data on compensation from Federal contractors. So pay discrimination can be spotted more easily. House Republicans also held a news conference with a direct message: stop politicizing women. Women have become an extremely valuable part of the workforce today on their own merits, not because the government mandated it. 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