[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 162 (Thursday, August 21, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 44529-44530]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-22481]



[[Page 44527]]

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Part III





The President





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Proclamation 7017--Women's Equality Day, 1997

Executive Order 13059--Prohibiting Certain Transactions With Respect to 
Iran
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  Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 162 / Thursday, August 21, 1997 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 44529]]

                 Proclamation 7017 of August 19, 1997

                
Women's Equality Day, 1997

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                 Each year, on Women's Equality Day, we reflect on how 
                far we have traveled on our journey to make America 
                live up to the ideals of justice and equality 
                articulated so powerfully in the Declaration of 
                Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. 
                Few constitutional amendments have affected that 
                progress more profoundly than the 19th, which 
                guarantees American women the right to vote.

                 Looking back from today's vantage point, where women 
                hold positions of authority and responsibility at 
                almost every level of government, it is hard to imagine 
                that, for almost a century and a half, women were 
                barred from exercising the most fundamental right of 
                every democracy. There are women still living among us 
                who can remember a time when they were prevented, by 
                law, from having a role in shaping the destiny of their 
                country and the impact of government on their own and 
                their families' lives. But thanks to women and men of 
                extraordinary courage and conviction, who waged for 
                years a determined campaign for women's suffrage, the 
                19th Amendment was ratified in August of 1920 and 
                opened the door for generations of American women to 
                add their vision and voices to our national discourse.

                 This year, we mark another milestone in the life of 
                our democracy: the 25th anniversary of the enactment of 
                Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX, 
                building on the spirit of the 19th Amendment, prohibits 
                discrimination against women in education and sports 
                programs. For a quarter-century, it has enabled 
                American girls and women to make the most of their 
                abilities, to dream big dreams, and, more important, to 
                achieve those dreams. In large measure, because of the 
                19th Amendment and Title IX, our Nation has reaped the 
                rewards of women's talents, accomplishments, wisdom, 
                and perspective. In every activity and profession, in 
                the home and outside--as astronauts and professional 
                athletes, as teachers and university presidents, as 
                farmers and firefighters, as caregivers, Cabinet 
                members, and Supreme Court Justices--women have made 
                lasting contributions to the quality of our lives and 
                the strength of our democracy.

                 Today, as Americans engage in a serious and profoundly 
                important dialogue on the future of our multiracial, 
                multiethnic, multicultural society, we do well to 
                remember that we are all immeasurably enriched when we 
                choose the path of inclusion and empowerment. Women's 
                Equality Day and the anniversary of Title IX remind us 
                that by demanding an equal opportunity for every 
                American, we ensure a brighter future for all 
                Americans.

                 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, 1997, 
                as Women's Equality Day. I call upon the citizens of 
                our great Nation to observe this day with appropriate 
                programs and activities.

[[Page 44530]]

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

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 97-22481
Filed 8-20-97; 11:16 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P