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1
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The future of our nation's productivity and
3competitiveness in the global marketplace depends on the
4success of all men and women; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Women have been discriminated against in
6education, the workplace, and society as a whole; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Women continue to earn no more than 78 cents on
8the dollar compared to men; and
 
9    WHEREAS, The pay gap has been shown to start as soon as one
10year after college; this inequality affects not only women, but
11their families and society as a whole; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The pay gap between women and men has long-term
13effects on women's economic security; such a gap affects
14women's Social Security earnings, their ability to save for
15retirement, and their children's education; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Pay equity is closely linked to the eradication of
17poverty and is essential to having a highly-motivated
18workforce; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Equal Pay Day was originated by the National

 

 

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1Committee on Pay Equity in 1996 as a public awareness event to
2illustrate the gap between men's and women's wages; the day,
3observed in April, symbolizes how far into the year a woman
4must work, on average, to earn as much as a man earned the
5previous year, with Tuesday being the day in which women's
6wages catch up to men's wages from the previous week; because
7women earn less on average than men, they must work longer for
8the same amount of pay; this wage gap is even greater for most
9women of color; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Equal pay is a priority for all women and for our
11society at large; therefore, be it
 
12    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
13NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
14SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we designate April 17, 2012 as
15Pay Equity Day in the State of Illinois in order to raise
16awareness about this endemic inequity.