On Monday, the Obama administration hosted its first White House Summit on Working Families to spotlight ways to help working parents balance their family lives with their careers and make ends meet.

The White House, with the Department of Labor and the Center for American Progress, presented multiple panel discussions with top administration officials, business leaders and lawmakers on issues like equal pay, paid sick leave and workplace flexibility. The summit included breakout sessions with activists on compensation, young women's leadership and caregiving.

In his speech, President Barack Obama declared that paid family leave and affordable child care "are not frills, these are basic needs," reports MSNBC.

"Too often these issues are thought of as women's issues," Obama said, "which I guess means you can kind of scoot them aside a little bit. Anything that makes life harder for women makes life harder for families and makes life harder for children."

He added that the United States is the only first world country that lacks mandated paid maternity leave.

"We talk about the glass ceiling, but you know what? It is the sticky floor that is the problem for so many minimum wage workers," senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett said during her opening remarks.

In the opening plenary, Jill Biden addressed the issue of mothers who care for children and elderly parents at the same time.

At the summit, Vice President Joe Biden said his female policy staffers motivated him to pass legislation that offered women flexibility to care for their families -- and "they're the reason I was able to write the domestic violence law in the first place," he said, referring to his signature Senate legislation, the Violence Against Women Act.

"You cannot talk about opportunity for women without talking about violence against them, ... domestic violence," Biden said.

"Mad Men" star Christina Hendricks spoke at the conference about her TV role as a single mother. "She has faced discrimination in every aspect of her job simply because she's a woman. ... The only place for a story like Joan's should be on TV."