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EQUAL PAY DAY

The Soroptimist Equal Pay Day efforts began with the Soroptimist International of St. Helena Sunrise club. They approached the mayor and city counsel and asked them to take an affirmative stand on Equal Pay Day. The City of St. Helena issued and Equal Pay Day proclamation at the next city counsel meeting.

This start became a soroptimist inspired snowball rolling and gathering momentum until Thursday May 11, 2000 was declared Equal Pay Day by both the House and Senate of the State of California, the Governor of Hawaii, and the United States House of Representatives. Soroptimists throughout Founder Region used their influence to obtain these proclamations from each of these governing bodies.

This day in May is recognized throughout the United States as the day when the wages paid to American women so far in 2000, when added to their earnings in all of 1999, finally equalled the 1999 earnings of American men.

President Clinton, addressing women's groups and organized labor representatives at the White House on May 11th said, "If we're going to make the most of the new economy, we have to close the door on discrimination where ever it exists and open the door for higher opportunities for all women who wish to work and are qualified to do so." He later stated, "Again, today, I renew my call to Congress to send the clear message that wage discrimination against women is just as unacceptable as discrimination based on race or ethnicity."

The President has proposed a $27 million plan to help women get the same pay as men for the same work. The plan includes $10 million for the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to train more agents to identify and remedy wage discrimination cases.

Soroptimists are spreading the word on Equal Pay Day and doing everything possible to make people aware of gender pay inequities. Working to remedy salary discrimination is a priority on the Soroptimist agenda.

In the links below you will find pages showing the proclamations that were presented at Founder Region Conference 2000 during the first week in May. These documents are also available in downloadable form both as Microsoft Word documents and in rich text format.

Please feel free to print these proclamations and use them in your press releases.

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