[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 83 (Friday, May 1, 2009)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 20403-20404]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-10270]



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Part III





The President





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Proclamation 8366--National Equal Pay Day, 2009
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  Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 83 / Friday, May 1, 2009 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

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                Proclamation 8366 of April 28, 2009

                
National Equal Pay Day, 2009

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                 Harriet Beecher Stowe helped galvanize the 
                abolitionist movement with her groundbreaking 
                literature. Frances Perkins advised President Franklin 
                Delano Roosevelt and led the Department of Labor during 
                one of its most challenging periods in history. Barbara 
                McClintock helped unlock the mysteries of genetics and 
                earned a Nobel Prize. These and countless other women 
                have broken barriers and changed the course of our 
                history, allowing women and men who followed them the 
                opportunity to reach greater heights.

                 Despite these achievements, 46 years since the passage 
                of the Equal Pay Act and 233 years since our Nation was 
                established with the principle of equal justice under 
                law, women across America continue to experience 
                discrimination in the form of pay inequity every day. 
                Women in the United States earn only 78 cents for every 
                dollar a man earns, and today marks the inauspicious 
                occasion when a woman's earnings finally catch up with 
                a man's from the previous year. On National Equal Pay 
                Day, we underscore the importance of this issue to all 
                Americans.

                 If we wish to honor our Nation's highest ideals, we 
                must end wage discrimination. The Founders established 
                a timeless framework of rights for the American people. 
                Generation after generation has worked and sacrificed 
                so that this framework might be applied equally to all 
                Americans. To honor these Americans and stay true to 
                our founding ideals, we must carry forward this 
                tradition and breathe life into these principles by 
                supporting equal pay for men and women.

                 Wage discrimination has a tangible and negative impact 
                on women and families. When women receive less than 
                their deserved compensation, they take home less for 
                themselves and their loved ones. Utilities and 
                groceries are more difficult to afford. Mortgages and 
                rent bills are harder to pay. Children's higher 
                education is less financially feasible. In later years 
                of life, the retirement that many women have worked so 
                hard for--and have earned--is not possible. This 
                problem is particularly dire for women who are single 
                and the sole supporters of their families. Women should 
                not and need not endure these consequences.

                 My Administration is working to advance pay equity in 
                the United States. The first bill I signed into law as 
                President, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, 
                allows more women to challenge pay discrimination by 
                extending the timeline within which complaints can be 
                filed. This law advances the struggle for equal pay, 
                but it is only an initial step. To continue this 
                progress, I issued an Executive Order establishing the 
                White House Council on Women and Girls. This high-level 
                body, composed of Cabinet members and heads of sub-
                Cabinet agencies, is charged with advancing the rights 
                and needs of women, including equal pay.

                 Still, Government can only advance this issue so far. 
                The collective action of businesses, community 
                organizations, and individuals is necessary to ensure 
                that every woman receives just treatment and 
                compensation. We Americans must come together to ensure 
                equal pay for both women and men by reminding ourselves 
                of the basic principles that underlie our Nation's

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                strength and unity, understanding the unnecessary 
                sacrifices that pay inequity causes, and recalling the 
                countless women leaders who have proven what women can 
                achieve.

                 NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the 
                United States, do hereby proclaim April 28, 2009, as 
                National Equal Pay Day. I call upon American men and 
                women, and all employers, to acknowledge the injustice 
                of wage discrimination and to commit themselves to 
                equal pay for equal work.

                 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United 
                States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. E9-10270
Filed 4-30-09; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3195-W9-P