WHEREAS, the State of North Carolina recognizes that our workforce is made stronger by diversity, supporting equal pay for all, particularly those disproportionately impacted by the pandemic; and
WHEREAS, equal pay day celebrates transparency in pay and brings awareness to the gender wage gap among women and men across our state and nation; and
WHEREAS, as frontline and essential workers, many women faced setbacks to achieving equal pay due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and
WHEREAS, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, year-round, full-time working women in 2020 earned only 82% of the earnings of year-round, full-time working men, indicating little change or progress in pay equity; and
WHEREAS, in North Carolina women earned $837 of the $1,032 weekly median salary of their male counterparts in 2020, falling below the national average; and
WHEREAS, according to the NC Council for Women & Youth Involvement’s 2018 Status of Women in North Carolina: Employment and Earnings report, if the gender wage gap is left unchanged, the present disparities will continue until 2060; closing the gender wage gap and reducing occupational segregation would increase earnings for women, reducing the poverty rate among working women by more than half; and
WHEREAS, in 2019, Governor Roy Cooper signed Executive Order No. 93, prohibiting the use of salary history in the state hiring process to help advance equality for women and families so that they are more economically secure; and
WHEREAS, the benefits of increasing the share of women in the labor force, closing the gender wage gap, and increasing women’s representation in high-growth occupations such as information technology would extend beyond individual women to their families, communities, and the entire state;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, ROY COOPER, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim April 12, 2022, as “EQUAL PAY DAY” in North Carolina, and commend its observance to all citizens.