2016 is already looking like it will be a progressive year for all. The latest news brings attention to the always-apparent, never-addressed gender pay gap in the United States.

On Friday, President Obama announced a proposal that requires companies with more than 100 employees to provide information on how they pay their workers based on their gender and race. Currently, these companies are already required to submit annual forms to the federal government, which details the sex, age, and job categories of their staff.

This new proposal includes how companies should add how they pay their employees by gender, race, and ethnicity.

During his announcement about his proposal, Obama talked about the necessity for gender equality.

“Women are not getting the fair shot that we believe every single American deserves. What kind of example does paying women less set for our sons and daughters?”

Valerie Jarrett, a senior White House adviser, stated that the median wage for women with full time jobs is 79 percent of the median wage for men. With this new proposal, companies will be penalized by the government if they pay an employee less than another based on their demographic information.

The pay gap, while bad for all women, is worse for women of color. In 2014, ABC reported that Black women 64 center for every dollar a man made and Latina women make 54 cents per dollar. Mothers have to work 18 months in order to make what fathers make in one year.

President Obama’s announcement was made on the seventh anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which gives employees a maximum of 180 days after getting an unfair paycheck to file a lawsuit against their employer. It also comes approximately two years after POTUS gave an executive order that made contractors to offer information to the government about how male and female employees are paid.

These rules are set to be finalized in September and placed in effect in 2017.

(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)