Jennifer Siebel Newsom said her legacy as California’s First Partner should be judged not only on pay equity, but on women’s wealth.
Speaking at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara, Calif., she said California has 'the strongest equal pay laws in the nation' and that 'hundreds of companies have signed on to our equal pay pledge.' She said she launched #EqualPayCA in 2019 to help close the gender pay gap.
'But that wasn’t enough, which is why we turned to women’s wealth,' she said.
Siebel Newsom pointed to several initiatives she said were part of that effort. She cited a financial literacy requirement in California high schools beginning with the 2030-31 graduating class. She also mentioned CalKids, a savings program she said was launched before Trump Accounts to encourage families to invest in their children’s futures.
She also highlighted expanded access to capital for female entrepreneurs and broader access to her husband, Gov. Gavin Newsom, describing it as an issue she noticed early on and worked to widen.
'Women anchor families, communities, and now, as you all know, the economy,' she said. 'One of the reasons we’ve really invested in California for all women … is because we know that if women are not able to thrive, how can their families, their communities, and the economy thrive?'
She said investments in universal pre-K, after-school programs, summer school and school meals were meant 'to mitigate costs and stress to families in California,' and have saved them thousands of dollars per year.
Siebel Newsom said she chose the title 'first partner' instead of 'first lady' to signal inclusivity, recognizing that California may one day have a woman or LGBTQ+ governor, and to emphasize partnership in government, according to the governor’s office.
She also said she launched California’s Women’s Wealth Advisory Council because she was 'tired of going into rooms where the majority of the men with access, the majority of the people with access to my husband were men, and a few women.'
Siebel Newsom, a Stanford graduate and documentary filmmaker, said her latest film, 'Miss Representation: Rise Up,' will premiere in New York City on Oct. 22. She and the governor have four children.
The numbers come first. California’s pitch here is not just about equal pay, but about deeper state involvement in how families save, how students are taught, and who gets access to capital. That is a familiar expansion of government power dressed in the language of equity.
For free enterprise, the key question is whether these programs create opportunity or simply route more taxpayer-backed influence through Sacramento. Capital rewards clear rules, not political gatekeeping. When government steps into wealth creation, it should be measured by results, not slogans.
