Proclamation

	WHEREAS, more than thirty-five years after the passage of the equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, women continue to suffer the consequences of inequitable pay differentials; and

WHEREAS, the institute for Women’s Policy Research reports that the average working woman twenty-five years of age will earn about half a million dollars less than her male counterpart over the next forty years if current wage patterns continue; and

		WHEREAS, America’s working women earned seventy-three cents for every dollar earned by men in 1998, a difference of twenty-seven percent less; and

		WHEREAS, women constitute a large segment of the nation’s workforce, and the vast majority of households depend on the wages of working mothers, who deserve fair and equal pay; and

		WHEREAS, May 11, 2000, is the day on which the wages paid to American women so far this year – when added to what they earned in 1999 – equal the 1999 earnings of American men; and

		WHEREAS, Founder Region of Soroptimist International of the Americas is committed to improving the lives of women in the community by raising awareness of the need for equal pay;

		NOW, THEREFORE, I, BENJAMIN J. CAYETANO, Governor of the State of Hawaii, do hereby proclaim May 11, 2000 to be

EQUAL PAY DAY

in Hawaii, and urge our employers to recognize the full value of women’s skills in the workforce.

		DONE at the State Capitol, in the Executive Chambers, Honolulu, State of Hawaii, this second day of May, 2000.

The Honorable Benjamin J. Cayetano
Governor, State of Hawaii