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Women's Equality Day, 1999
By the President of
the United States of America
A Proclamation
The theme for America's celebration of the coming millennium
is "honor the past -- imagine the future," a theme that could also describe
our annual observance of Women's Equality Day. On this special day,
we honor the past by remembering the decades-long struggle of visionary
and determined women and men who fought for women's suffrage. Seventy-nine
years ago, their efforts were rewarded with the ratification of the
19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed women the right
to vote and moved our Nation forward on the path toward equal civil
and political rights for all Americans.
This year we also mark the 35th anniversary of another hard-fought
victory for women's equality: the enactment of Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, which -- among other things -- prohibits employment
discrimination on the basis of gender. Title VII guarantees women
equal access to jobs, promotions, pay, and benefits, empowering them
to provide for themselves and their families and to achieve their
highest aspirations. This historic legislation benefits our entire
Nation by strengthening America's workforce and economy through the
contributions of millions of Americans whose talents in the past had
too often been ignored or excluded.
We also celebrate Women's Equality Day by imagining the future --
a future where women will receive equal pay for equal work, where
our social structures will help women and men to balance better the
responsibilities of job and family, where there will be no ceilings
to prevent women from rising as far and as fast as their talents will
take them. Such a future seems possible when we reflect on the extraordinary
feats women have achieved this summer alone. The entire world was
captivated by the energy, skill, teamwork, and determination of the
women soccer players from around the globe who competed in the Women's
World Cup; and all America rejoiced when the U.S. team won a breathtaking
victory. Just 13 days later, Air Force Colonel Eileen Collins, commander
of Space Shuttle Mission STS-93, became the first woman to command
a mission in space.
With a rich past, an exciting present, and a future of limitless
possibilities, women have much to celebrate on this Women's Equality
Day, and all Americans have much to be grateful for as we reflect
on the countless contributions women make to the quality of our lives
and the well-being of our Nation.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States
of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution
and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim August 26, 1999,
as Women's Equality Day. I call upon the citizens of our great Nation
to observe this day with appropriate programs and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth
day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine,
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred
and twenty-fourth.
William J. Clinton
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