--- title: Equal Pay Day: Obama Dedicates Monument to Women's Equality description: President Barack Obama on Tuesday dedicated a national monument on Capitol Hill in honor of the people who have fought for women's rights canonical: https://time.com/4291191/barack-obama-womens-equality-monument-equal-pay/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-12T19:12:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:40:47.882Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Dedicates Monument to the Fight for Women's Equality og:description: He called the site a centerpiece for activism and the struggle for equality og:url: https://time.com/4291191/barack-obama-womens-equality-monument-equal-pay/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f77342d297c0116/69888ed3cd1bba61d6700372/barack-obama-equal-pay.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-OBAMA-WOMEN og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Dedicates Monument to the Fight for Women's Equality twitter:description: He called the site a centerpiece for activism and the struggle for equality twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f77342d297c0116/69888ed3cd1bba61d6700372/barack-obama-equal-pay.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Barack Obama Dedicates Monument to the Fight for Women's Equality  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 12, 2016 7:12 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the newly-designated Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument in Washington, D.C. on April 12. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the newly-designated Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument in Washington, D.C. on April 12.Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 12, 2016 7:12 PM UTC President Barack Obama on Tuesday [dedicated a national monument on Capitol Hill](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/11/obama-to-designate-a-national-monument-in-d-c-to-honor-womens-equality-tuesday/) in honor of the people who have fought for women’s rights, calling the building a “centerpiece for the struggle for equality.” Obama’s remarks at the historic Sewall-Belmont House and Museum—which will now be called the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument—came on Equal Pay Day, which recognizes the wage gap that persists between men and women in the work force. “I want young girls and boys to come here, 10, 20, 100 years from now, to know that women fought for equality, it was not just given to them,” Obama said, [the Washington _Post_ reporte](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/11/obama-to-designate-a-national-monument-in-d-c-to-honor-womens-equality-tuesday/)d. “I want them to be astonished that there was ever a time when women earned less than men for doing the same work. I want them to be astonished that there was ever a time when women were vastly outnumbered in the boardroom or in Congress, that there was ever a time when a woman had never sat in the Oval Office.” Though he did not mention her directly, Obama’s comments made subtle reference to the historic nature of Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy. If elected, she would be the first female president of the United States. **Read more:** [Hillary Clinton Calls for Closing Wage Gap on Equal Pay Day](http://time.com/4290427/hillary-clinton-equal-pay-day/) The national monument has been home to the National Woman’s Party since 1929 and is now named for Alva Belmont, the party’s benefactor, and Alice Paul, the party’s founder, the _Post_ reported. Obama has made equal pay a priority during his presidency, signing the [Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act](https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/30/archives-president-obama-signs-lilly-ledbetter-fair-pay-act) to make it easier for employees to challenge their employers’ discriminatory pay practices. “If you don’t believe that we’re going to close our wage gap, you need to come visit this house, because this house has a story to tell,” Obama said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4291191/barack-obama-womens-equality-monument-equal-pay/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4291191/barack-obama-womens-equality-monument-equal-pay/"},"headline":"Barack Obama Dedicates Monument to the Fight for Women's Equality","datePublished":"2016-04-12T19:12:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:40:47.882Z","description":"He called the site a centerpiece for activism and the struggle for equality","url":"https://time.com/4291191/barack-obama-womens-equality-monument-equal-pay/","keywords":["White House","equal pay day"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f77342d297c0116/69888ed3cd1bba61d6700372/barack-obama-equal-pay.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f77342d297c0116/69888ed3cd1bba61d6700372/barack-obama-equal-pay.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-OBAMA-WOMEN","caption":"US-POLITICS-OBAMA-WOMEN","creditText":"Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4291191/barack-obama-womens-equality-monument-equal-pay/","name":"Barack Obama Dedicates Monument to the Fight for Women's Equality"}}]}] ```