National Pay Inequity Awareness Day, 1997

Proclamation 6985 of April 10, 1997

National Pay Inequity Awareness Day, 1997

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Although more than three decades have passed since the
Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
were signed into law, women working full-time and year
round in the United States, on average, still earn only
71 percent of the wages earned by men. This means that,
for the 1996 calendar year, the wages of the average
American female worker will not match those of the
average male worker until April 11 of this year.

Although the pay gap has narrowed over the past two
decades, unfair pay practices persist in many U.S.
business sectors. Paying a woman less than a male co-
worker with equal skills and job responsibilities hurts
that woman and her family--not only in immediate
material benefit, but also in her ability to invest and
save for retirement. Working women deserve--and are
demanding--fair and equal pay for their time spent on
the job. Over a quarter of a million women surveyed by
the Department of Labor indicated that ``improving pay
scales'' is one of their highest priorities in bringing
fairness to the workplace.

To address this problem, my Administration has moved
on several fronts simultaneously: I signed the increase
in the minimum wage into law, initiated a pension
education campaign, strengthened equal employment law
enforcement, and created a Women's Bureau Fair Pay
Clearinghouse at the Department of Labor, which
disseminates information on working women's wages and
occupations and on organizations that are active in
improving women's wages. In addition, my
Administration, with over 200 private-sector partners,
has formed the American Savings Education Council to
educate women and men on how they can ensure their
financial independence in retirement. Together with
renewed attention focused on the reality of pay
inequity and what it means for working women across the
country, these initiatives create real opportunities
for employers, working women, and organizations to
develop new and effective approaches that achieve pay
equity.

Strong enforcement of equal employment laws also plays
a critical role in resolving unfair pay. The Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission enforces laws that
make it illegal to discriminate in wages, or to limit
or segregate job applicants or employees in any way
that would deprive them of opportunities because of
sex, race, color, religion, age, national origin, or
disability.

The Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract
Compliance Programs enforces nondiscrimination and
affirmative action laws that apply to employers that do
business with the Federal Government, ensuring that
Government contractors prevent and remedy
discrimination and resolve matters of pay equity.

It is vital that we aggressively enforce our pay
equity laws. Women deserve to be rewarded on an equal
basis for their contributions to the American work
force.

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 of America, do hereby proclaim April
11,

1997, 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 the skills and contributions of women in the labor
force.

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