Valerie Jarrett Quotes

It's amazing to me that, in the 42 years since President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law, women today still receive fewer wages than men for the same work.

Why do women get paid less money? It doesn't make any sense.

Fifty-nine cents. For years, I wore a button - '59 cents.' Many of my colleagues wore it also. The purpose was so that people would come up and ask, 'What does '59 cents' mean?' One could then launch into a discussion about how women working full time in the U.S. earn 59 cents for every dollar earned by men.

Because women still earn just 77 cents for every dollar men make. Those pennies add up to real money.

We have to change a norm that has been in existance for years .... If we [female actresses] aren't paid equally, why would we be expected to be treated equally.

We have required under law for years that men and women get paid equal money for equal work. But we've faced challenges enforcing that law. There is still a large wage gap, and there are numerous instances of women holding jobs where they are not compensated fairly.

Every woman needs to know when she's being discriminated against and what the reasons are why she isn't getting equal pay so we can close that pay gap.

Some of you may know my story: How for nineteen years, I worked as a manager for a tire plant in Alabama. And some of you may have lived a similar story: After nearly two decades of hard, proud work, I found out that I was making significantly less money than the men who were doing the same work as me.

How is it even sustainable in 21st-century America that women earn, on average, 77 cents for every dollar earned by men?

I have done a great deal of work; as much as a man, but did not get so much pay. I used to work in the field and bind grain, keeping up with the cradler; but men doing no more, got twice as much pay... Women work in the field and do as much work, but do not get the pay. We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much.

Listen, it's not just 'Full House.' It's across the board in the entertainment industry: women are not paid what men are paid.

I'm not taking jobs anymore where I'm getting paid a quarter of what the male co-star is being paid. I'm not allowing that in my life.

What I do now, when I'm taking on a film, I always ask about the fairness of the pay. I ask what they're offering me in comparison to the guy. I don't care about how much I get paid; I'm in an industry where we're overcompensated for the work we do.

We have a long way to go in the world in all industries. If I'm in the situation where I have equal experience to the other actor and my role is just as significant, there is no reason why I should be paid less. It's not really part of my world anymore, because I just won't accept it.

I thought it was ridiculous that I was being paid less than a cameraman, and I wanted to shame them. And I did.

It is not possible that it is God's will that women are making 77 cents on a dollar.

There's no justification to not be paid the same as the men. We do everything the men do.

Candidly, I've noticed that throughout my career, whether in offices that are majority male or majority female, the men are quick to advocate for themselves for a higher starting salary or more pay bumps over time.

Guys want to be compensated fairly.

Today, women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment. Women deserve equal pay for equal work.

You know, for every dollar a man makes a woman makes 63 cents. Now, fifty years ago that was 62 cents. So, with that kind of luck, it’ll be the year 3,888 before we make a buck.

We have Latinas in California making 55 cents on the dollar. Black women making 63 cents on the dollar. White women making 78 cents on the dollar. It doesn't change very much year by year, it might go up or down a penny, but oftentimes, the years that it goes up are the same years that men are making a little bit more. It's pretty much always in proportion.

I'm not afraid to talk about the fact that women get paid less than men in the United States and how unfair that is. Talking about it at all is doing the work.

If women really earned fifty-nine cents to the dollar for the same work as men, what business could compete effectively by hiring men at any level?

I think how pay gets determined is pretty broad - experience, how people look, what they bring to the job. But there's no question women are paid less. Women don't ask.