[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 15 (Monday, April 14, 1997)]
[Pages 497-498]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6985--National Pay Inequity Awareness Day, 1997

April 10, 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

[[Page 498]]

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.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 p.m., April 14, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
April 15.