applause to our panel and we will have to brakes. breaks. >> all month, we are featuring our studentcam winners in c-span's video documentary competition for middle and high school students. this year, students told us the most urgent issue for the new president and congress. our second prize middle school winners are three eighth graders from concord, massachusetts. charlotte lisa, caroline drapeau, and cara fritz, eighth graders at nashoba brooks school in concord, massachusetts their documentary is entitled "gauging the wage gap." >> $10,786 is a lot of money that could purchase roughly 2000 starbucks coffees, and 75 luxury handbags.

>> $10,786 could also purchase 10 months of rent for a luxury apartment. it could pay for 64 essential doctor visits. >> the gender wage gap is an age-old issue that has existed since men and women have both been a part of the workforce. the gender wage gap is calculated -- -- the average distance and growth of women and men in the

economy as a whole. in other words, the gender wage gap is where women are paid less than men in most scenarios. for every one dollar a man earns, a woman is paid $.78. >> women joined the workforce. [indiscernible] quite they were doing jobs that were helping us in the war. they were activists and journalists. >> in the past, the federal government has attempted to make changes regarding the gender wage gap but have not made a large impact. the lilly ledbetter act passed in 2009 and the paychecks fairness act passed in 2013 after 18 years of attempting to pass it are among the efforts made by the government. >> you cannot have all pictures on the baseball diamond. you have to have many voices.

there are women's voices out there. i'm not sure if more women's voices need to come first to get equal pay. money is power and women are the caretakers of the children. many want to stay home with their kids. and get a part-time job. >> the wage gap is not just something that affects women. >> some say that the gender wage gap is the result of a woman's choice to leave the workforce. others say it is that employers decide to pay them less. >> many of us like to think it is other people's problem.

i hate to break it to everyone, it exists. wage gap has become the status quo in the workplace. research shows that the gap will not be closed until 2051 at best. if the gap continues to close at the slow rate it has been closing since 2001, pay equity will not be achieved until 2159. that is 142 years from now. we should break down those barriers.

>> we have a responsibility to lead by example. >> that would take so many families out of poverty. >> within america, throughout every race, the gender wage gap exists. the gap is largest between caucasian men and women at a 24% difference and smallest between hispanic men and women at 8% difference. this significant gap is more than a statistic. it has real-life consequences. gender discrimination and financial inequality should not be the reason a woman is not able to provide for her family. >> both parents now work full-time. in 40% of all families with children, the mother is a full employee. >> single mothers are especially impacted by the gender wage gap. this is money that her entire family does not have. >> we have covered what has been done about this issue.

what about in the future? after researching and interviewing, it became clear there were varying opinions about how to solve the issue. the humane option being federal regulations created by the president and congress are one option or policies implemented by individual employers. >> some of this could be incentivized. >> it is an issue that state and local governments could take the lead on. >> national policy would be the best. >> there is a growing consensus in research that bad policies are what has held down wages. and made our society less equal.

>> this would be life-changing for the country as a whole. >> our president and congress need to address this urgent issue. the gender wage gap is a challenge that affects all women and many families across the nation. it has yet to be impacted on a national scale. >> we have discovered that numerous people wish to have national policies regarding gender wage inequality. >> but it has become a difficult issue. it is difficult to change an issue so deeply embedded in society and culture. with a new president arriving in office, this is the time to address this. >> what will our new government do? >> to watch all the prize-winning documentaries in this year's studentcam competition, visit studentcam.org.

announcer: c-span's washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. discuss aallon will federal ruling on lgbt workplace discrimination. and then he will talk about his book "the internally trinity -- trinity" and family will talk about the complexity of the tax code. be sure to watch c-span monday at 7 a.m. eastern. tomorrow judge neil gorsuch will be sworn in as a justice of the supreme court. in 2009 we asked chief justice john roberts about new members joining the court. >> to some extent it is

unsettling. you quickly get to the court as composed of these members and it becomes hard to think of it as involving anyone else. just as people look at their families. this is the family, how could it be different but you do get new arrivals in both of those situations. it is a tremendous sense of loss. justice souter is a wonderful andeague in semi respects we will miss him in our deliberations and miss him around court but it is part of the process of the evolution of the court. we will welcome the new member with open arms and the court will be richer because of the gradual turn. you do get used to seeing the same people every day. you get used to having lunch with the same people every day and it can be an interesting part of the changeover.

justice white always used a when the court gets a new member, it changes everybody and everything. simple changes, we move the seats around in the courtroom. seniority by order of so there will be a shift to there. more fundamentally, i think it can cause you to take a fresh look at how things are decided. the new member is going to have a particular view about how issues should be addressed that may be very different from what we have been following from sometime -- for some time. it is part of life on the court. announcer: tomorrow neil gorsuch will be sworn in as an associate justice of the supreme court. watching the ceremony at the white house admitted by justice anthony kennedy. tomorrow on c-span. ♪ announcer: c-span, where history unfold the daily.

in 1979, he span was traded as a public service by american cable television company and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. ♪ ♪ announcer: this week on "q&a," longtime journalist and author john farrell discusses his book "richard nixon, a life." brian: john farrell, better known as jack, author of the book "richard nixon, a life." at the very end of your book , in the footnotes, you say this. "he hoped that billy graham or norman vincent peele would handle the prayers, and 'doesn't want a catholic or jew to partip