Whereas, Forty 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, According to U.S. Census data released in 2003, year-round, full-time working women in 2002 earned only 77 percent of the earnings of year-round, full-time working men, indicating little progress in pay equity since 1999; and,

Whereas, The General Accounting Office reported women managers in seven  of ten industries surveyed lost ground in closing the wage gap between 1995 and 2000; and,

Whereas, The U.S. Department of Labor Statistics in 2001 reported women earn less in every occupational classification for which data is available; and,

Whereas, According to the U.S. Department of Education, women faculty members earn nearly nine percent less than their male counterparts; and,

Whereas, It is estimated that over a working lifetime, this wage disparity costs the average American woman and her family an estimated $500,000 in lost wages, impacting Social Security benefits and pensions; and,

Whereas, Fair pay strengthens the security of families today and eases future retirement costs while enhancing the American economy; and,

Whereas, April 20, 2004 symbolizes the day on which the wages paid to American women catch up to the wages paid to men from the previous year; and now therefore be it,

Resolved, That I, Jennifer M. Granholm, Governor of the State of Michigan, do here by proclaim April 20, 2004, as Equal Pay Day in Michigan.