[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 201 (Friday, October 17, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 54335-54336]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-27814]



[[Page 54333]]

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Part IV





The President





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Proclamation 7041--International Rural Women's Day, 1997
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  Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 201 / Friday, October 17, 1997 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 54335]]

                Proclamation 7041 of October 15, 1997

                
International Rural Women's Day, 1997

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Our world has been continually uplifted and renewed by 
                the contributions of women. Women of courage and 
                conscience, women of strength and compassion, women of 
                vision and talent have enriched every aspect of 
                international society. In our own Nation, the names of 
                such extraordinary individuals as Harriet Tubman, Susan 
                B. Anthony, Jane Addams, Rosa Parks, Dolores Huerta, 
                and so many more, are etched on our history and in our 
                hearts. But there are millions of other women who live 
                and work among us whose names will never be known, but 
                whose efforts and energy contribute profoundly to the 
                quality of our lives. Rural women are numbered among 
                these many quiet heroes.

                Today rural women comprise more than one-quarter of the 
                world's population, and they form the basis of much of 
                the world's agricultural economy. In the United States, 
                working on farms and ranches, they play a vital part in 
                ensuring a healthy, safe, and abundant supply of food 
                and fiber for our people. In developing countries, as 
                small farmers, laborers, and entrepreneurs, rural women 
                help produce most of the food, create many of the jobs, 
                and manage most of their countries' natural resources. 
                While millions of rural women worldwide live below the 
                poverty level, struggling to survive with scarce 
                resources and little training and education, they still 
                manage to feed their families and contribute to their 
                communities.

                When the international community came together in 
                Beijing in 1995 for the Fourth United Nations World 
                Conference on Women, rural women made their voices 
                heard by world leaders, and their hard work and 
                sacrifice were at last recognized by people across the 
                globe. Next year, when the United States hosts the 
                Second World Conference on Women in Agriculture, we 
                will continue to focus on the status of rural women and 
                their contributions to our world.

[[Page 54336]]

                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 October 15, 1997, as 
                International Rural Women's Day in the United States. I 
                call upon the American people to observe this day with 
                appropriate programs and activities in recognition of 
                the extraordinary contributions rural women make to the 
                quality of our lives, both in America and around the 
                world.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                fifteenth day of October, 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. 97-27814
Filed 10-16-97; 11:12 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P