[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 8, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H1158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate 
International Women's Day and to recognize that there are many faiths 
in this Nation, but in some of our faith the Book of Proverbs talks 
about the virtuous woman. I would like to emphasize that theme in its 
broadness.
  The virtuousness of women across the land and around the world is to 
be able to acknowledge the very unique and specific duties and 
responsibilities and vulnerabilities that women have and to celebrate 
them in every aspect of life.
  Today, in America, women get up and go to work in blue-collar labor 
jobs for low hourly wages--from waitresses to bus drivers to working in 
the building trades to being in jobs that barely make ends meet--tough 
jobs--but giving them a better way of life. They have never refused 
their assignment. They are the caretakers. They are the loving moms. 
The little ones grab their legs and look to them for hope and survival.
  I pay tribute to those women, the everyday women, ordinary women 
doing extraordinary things. Thank you to America's women.

  Then I take to this podium to honor those women in conflict, the 
women protecting their children in Ukraine, fighting in the battles in 
uniform in the Ukrainian military.
  I honor those women who fell in battle. I honor those women who fell 
under the vicious bombing and brutality of Russia's desperate Vladimir 
Putin in this horrible war with Ukraine.
  I honor the women in Sudan. I honor the women from Pakistan to India. 
I honor the women in Syria and Turkiye in the midst of this horrible 
earthquake. I honor impoverished women, women who are barely surviving 
on the continent of Africa and South and Central America. I honor the 
migrant women who are struggling to give their family a better life.
  It is important that I recognize and honor the civil rights fighters. 
This weekend, we spent time honoring Bloody Sunday that our late 
colleague John Lewis reminded us of, the moment of fighting for voting 
rights. We know that Sister Boynton, Coretta Scott King, so many 
women--Viola Liuzzo--fought in the civil rights movement nonviolently 
and are no longer here with us by loss of life from natural causes but 
others who were simply murdered because they believed in civil rights.
  I am here to honor those in my own community. It is important to take 
note of Willie Bell Boone, Beulah Shepard, Etta Crockett, who is 
fighting for her life, but has been an enormous strength in our 
community, believing in not only civil rights but the process of voting 
and empowerment.
  I honor my grandmother Olive Jackson; my grandmother Vannie Bennett; 
my big grandmother Mrs. Sims. I honor--called big mother, of course--my 
mother, Ivalita Jackson; my Aunt Valrie Bennett, and my other close 
aunts, Sybil Gooden and Sarah Jackson.
  These women molded me and indicated that in spite of the segregated 
life you lived in, that all things are possible.

                              {time}  1030

  It is important today, as we honor the international women suffering, 
fighting still for their freedom and their dignity, that we honor those 
who have fallen by way of age or disaster.
  We honor those in my own community in Houston. I honor my former 
women mayors, Kathy Whitmire and Annise Parker, in Houston, Texas, and 
recognize that women are still striving.
  On this day, I make a pronouncement that I want to take a hammer to 
the scourge of domestic violence with brutality and guns against women. 
I want to stop the scourge of human trafficking, where young girls and 
women are the largest victims.
  When we come to this podium to talk about International Women's Day, 
we must come with action and maybe even an iron fist that is, in fact, 
strong and nonviolent but with a commitment that we will stand for 
things that will draw us to make life better for these women who are 
there every single day.
  I want to make sure that I pay tribute to those who molded me outside 
of my home. Thank you to the teachers of America, some going 
unapplauded, some going unappreciated, some going uncompensated. Thank 
you to America's teachers. I could not be where I was or am today 
without public school education. Who was in it? It was our teachers.
  Madam Speaker, I say to you: International Women's Day is a day of 
honor and a day of action.

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