SJ0061 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SJ0061 LRB096 12495 JDS 25548 r

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The future of our nation's productivity and competitiveness in the global marketplace depends on the success of all men and women; and

WHEREAS, Women have been discriminated against in education, the workplace, and society as a whole; and

WHEREAS, Women continue to earn no more than 78 cents on the dollar compared to men; and

WHEREAS, The pay gap has been shown to start as soon as one year after college; this inequality affects not only women, but their families and society as a whole; and

WHEREAS, The pay gap between women and men has long-term effects on women's economic security; such a gap affects women's Social Security earnings, their ability to save for retirement, and their children's education; and

WHEREAS, Pay equity is closely linked to the eradication of poverty and is essential to having a highly-motivated workforce; and

WHEREAS, Equal Pay Day was originated by the National Committee on Pay Equity in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men's and women's wages; the day, observed in April, symbolizes how far into the year a woman must work, on average, to earn as much as a man earned the previous year, with Tuesday being the day in which women's wages catch up to men's wages from the previous week; because women earn less on average than men, they must work longer for the same amount of pay; this wage gap is even greater for most women of color; and

WHEREAS, Equal pay is a priority for all women and for our society at large; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that we designate April 28, 2009 as Pay Equity Day in the State of Illinois in order to raise awareness about this endemic inequity.