( CNN ) -- President Barack Obama is probably the most pro-woman president in U.S. history , but his signature racial justice program , the My Brother 's Keeper initiative , is for males only . That 's wrong and needs to change . The President should follow the advice of more than 1,000 women of color who , this week , wrote a letter to urge him to include the sisters as well as the brothers . The women include civil rights icons Anita Hill and Angela Davis , movie stars Rosario Dawson and Rosie Perez , and writers Alice Walker and Sapphire . The signers also include schoolgirls , working-class women and , I 'm proud to say , my 70-year-old mother , a retired schoolteacher , and my sister , a stay-at-home mom of two teenage boys . My mom , Legertha Butler-Walton , is Obama 's biggest fan . But she says she did n't march with Martin Luther King Jr. to get the `` whites only '' signs taken down , only to have the nation 's first black president put up a sign that says `` men only . '' There 's a myth that girls of color are doing better than boys . But that 's not supported by the facts . Indeed the White House website attempts to justify MBK 's exclusion of females by stating that `` boys of color are too often born into poverty and live with a single parent . '' But do n't African-American girls live in the same single-parent households as African-American boys ? Do n't Latina girls attend the same failing schools as Latino boys ? Is n't a teenage girl on a reservation in California as afraid of being a victim of rape as a teenage boy in Chicago is afraid of being a victim of gun violence ? Indeed African-American and Latina women are the poorest members of our society . According to a study by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development reported on NPR , the average net worth of a white woman is $ 41,000 . Compare that to $ 100 for black women , and $ 120 for Latinas . Although African-American men are , generally speaking , not doing well either , they earn more money than African-American women , and are less likely to be raising children on poverty-level wages . The average net worth of an unmarried black man is 100 times greater than that of an unmarried black woman . But this is not about a race to the bottom . It is about understanding that the economic and social conditions that prevent many people of color from achieving the American dream do not discriminate on the basis of gender . And neither should Obama 's most important race-based program to remedy these conditions . Community organizations , many now strapped for cash , stand to receive millions of dollars from MBK . Unless the initiative expands to include women , these groups are likely to orient their programs to where the money is by , for example , restricting job training , college preparation and mentoring to boys only . As a result of MBK , federal agencies are being asked to collect data about how their operations impact minority males . Unless the mission of this initiative is expanded , the data about girls apparently will be sent to the shredding bin . It 's an ironic result for an administration that prides itself on its support for women 's equality . First lady Michelle Obama spoke movingly at Maya Angelou 's memorial service about how desperately she , as a black girl growing up in Chicago , needed to hear Angelou 's message of empowerment , `` when there were such stifling limitations on how black women could exist in the world . '' Now the President has the ability to help more women of color have the opportunities -- to grow up healthy and safe , to go to college , to live their dreams -- that his wife had . I am an African-American man who stood outside in the cold at both of Obama 's inaugurations and sang `` The Star-Spangled Banner '' louder than I ever had before . The President frequently says that he does n't have all the answers . For example , at the beginning of his administration he thought civil unions were good enough for same-sex couples . Now Obama thanks the LGBT community for helping him evolve to support marriage equality . One day the President will express the same kind of gratitude to the women of color who petitioned him this week to make My Brother 's Keeper more inclusive . He has said this initiative is `` as important as anything I will do as president . '' So we need him to get it right . A racial justice program simply will not work if it leaves out half the race . Too many girls of color are barely staying afloat in the same deep tides that threaten the boys . MBK is like a ship that comes along to throw a lifeline only to the boys . The message is to the girls is , `` Wait . There might be another boat for you at some later time . '' But the truth is that the girls ca n't swim any better than the boys . The sisters need someone to keep them as desperately as the brothers . Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion .
Paul Butler wonders why Obama 's signature initiative does n't include girls . Comment: Butler : A racial justice program simply will not work if it leaves out half the race .