[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 166 (Friday, August 27, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 46813-46814]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-22483]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 166 / Friday, August 27, 1999 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 46813]]

                Proclamation 7215 of August 24, 1999

                
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.

[[Page 46814]]

                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.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 99-22483
Filed 8-26-99; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P