[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 56 (Thursday, March 21, 1996)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 11707-11708]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-7109]




[[Page 11705]]

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Part III





The President





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Proclamation 6872--Women's History Month, 1996
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  Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 56 / Thursday, March 21, 1996 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 11707]]

                Proclamation 6872 of March 19, 1996

                
Women's History Month, 1996

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                It is impossible to fully appreciate America's proud 
                history without recognizing the extraordinary 
                contributions that women have made to our country since 
                its founding. Women's History Month provides an 
                opportunity to celebrate the countless women who have 
                enriched our Nation and to ensure that their 
                achievements--in homes and businesses, schools and 
                hospitals, courtrooms and statehouses--will always be 
                remembered.

                We have come a long way since Abigail Adams asked her 
                husband John to ``remember the ladies'' when drafting 
                the Constitution, and we recognize that women not only 
                have broadened and reshaped the path laid by our 
                Founding Fathers, but also have made new avenues toward 
                progress and justice. Female workers filled the textile 
                mills that drove the Industrial Revolution. Women like 
                Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Elizabeth 
                Cady Stanton fought tirelessly for suffrage and women's 
                rights. Jane Addams founded America's first settlement 
                house for poor immigrants and established social work 
                as a new and respected field. And farm and migrant 
                laborers across the country gained the leadership of 
                Dolores Huerta when she joined the newly created United 
                Farm Workers Union.

                Indeed, there is no aspect of our history left 
                untouched by women--from the first published American 
                poet, Anne Bradstreet; to Sacajawea, Lewis and Clark's 
                interpreter and guide; to Harriet Tubman, heroine of 
                the Underground Railroad; to Margaret Mead, who 
                revolutionized the study of anthropology. Writers and 
                artists such as Laura Ingalls Wilder, Mary Cassatt, 
                Beverly Sills, Amy Tan, and Martha Graham have captured 
                our imaginations. Champions like Wilma Rudolph and 
                Bonnie Blair have taken America to great heights in the 
                international sports world.

                Today, women make up close to half of our Nation's 
                labor force, and women-owned businesses are changing 
                the face of the American and global economies. But 
                barriers to equality remain. Despite the efforts of 
                women like Esther Peterson, a leader in the effort to 
                end gender-based salary differences, many women are 
                still paid considerably less than their male 
                counterparts. Often these women also struggle with the 
                dual responsibilities of raising a family and meeting 
                the demands of a full-time job.

                Last September, thousands of women from around the 
                globe met to discuss these issues at the United Nations 
                Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, and 
                to develop a Platform for Action. The resulting 
                document represents a powerful consensus on the need to 
                advance women's status by improving access to 
                education, health care, jobs, and credit. It describes 
                the fundamental desire of all women to enjoy basic 
                legal and human rights and to take part in political 
                life. Only through our commitment to these principles 
                can we forever end discrimination and injustice based 
                on gender, promote women's full participation in all 
                aspects of American life, and join people everywhere 
                who seek true equality.

                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 March 1996, as Women's 
                History Month. I call upon Government officials, 
                educators, and all Ameri

[[Page 11708]]
                cans to observe this month with appropriate programs, 
                ceremonies, and activities; to remember year-round the 
                many important contributions that women make to our 
                country each day; and to learn and share information 
                about women's history in homes, classrooms, and 
                community centers across the Nation.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord 
                nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and twentieth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 96-7109
Filed 3-20-96; 11:46 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P