National Pay Inequity Awareness Day, 1996

Proclamation 6883 of April 11, 1996

National Pay Inequity Awareness Day, 1996

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

More than three decades after the passage of the Equal
Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, women
and people of color continue to suffer the consequences
of unfair pay differentials. In comparing median weekly
earnings, last year American women earned only 75 cents
for every dollar a man brought home, with African
American women and Hispanic women collecting just 66
cents and 57 cents, respectively. Significant wage gaps
exist for African American and Hispanic men, Asians,
Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans as well.

April 11 is the day on which American women's wages for
1996, when added to their entire 1995 earnings, finally
equal what men earned in 1995 alone. Unfair pay
practices exist at all education levels and in every
occupation. Last year, women physicians and lawyers
earned substantially less than their male counterparts.
The problem is particularly acute in female-dominated
professions and in jobs where minority groups are
disproportionately represented. Though changing
technologies and a growing demand for services have
made their positions increasingly vital, America's
child care providers, secretaries, textile workers,
telephone operators, social workers, and maintenance
people are among those who bear the greatest wage
discrepancies.

Ensuring fair pay is an essential part of helping women
and their families become and remain self-sufficient.
According to 1993 data, the vast majority of households
depend on the wages of a working mother, and 12 percent
of all families are supported by a woman working as the
single head of household. Studies show that salary
inequities often force women to turn to public
assistance to keep a roof over their children's heads
and food on the table.

Fair pay equity policies can be implemented simply and
without incurring undue costs. Twenty States have
already established programs aimed at increasing the
wages of employees in female-dominated jobs, and many
private sector businesses have implemented voluntary
policies. These employers understand that fair pay is
an invaluable human resource management tool that helps
attract and retain the best workers.

At the Fourth World Conference on Women held in
Beijing, China, the United States joined more than 180
other countries to address problems facing women and to
promote workers' basic rights. This was an important
step, and we must build on it to further the dialogue
about fair pay and treatment in this country. Women and
minority workers have long fueled our Nation's
progress, and we must do all we can to recognize their
achievements and to leave a legacy of equality and
justice for their children to cherish.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim April 11, 1996, as National
Pay Inequity Awareness Day. I call upon Government
officials, law enforcement agencies, business and
industry leaders, educators, and all the people of the
United States to recognize the full value of women's
skills and

contributions to the labor force. I urge all employers
to review their wage-setting practices and to see that
their employees, particularly women and people of
color, are paid fairly for their work.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and twentieth.