[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 169 (Wednesday, August 30, 2000)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 52639-52640]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-22360]


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                         Presidential Documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 169 / Wednesday, August 30, 2000 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 52639]]

                Proclamation 7334 of August 26, 2000

                
Women's Equality Day, 2000

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                In March of 1776, 4 months before the signing of the 
                Declaration of Independence, Abigail Adams sent a 
                letter to her husband John in Philadelphia, where he 
                was participating in the Second Continental Congress. 
                ``...[I]n the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will 
                be necessary for you to make,'' she wrote, ``I desire 
                you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and 
                favourable to them than your ancestors.'' Almost a 
                century and a half would pass before her desire was 
                realized with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to 
                the Constitution, guaranteeing women's suffrage.

                The road to civic, economic, and social equality for 
                women in our Nation has been long and arduous, marked 
                by frustrations and setbacks, yet inspired by the 
                courageous actions of many heroic Americans, women and 
                men alike. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, 
                Sojourner Truth, Lucretia Mott, Frederick Douglass, 
                Lucy Stone--these and so many others refused to remain 
                silent in the face of injustice. Speaking out at 
                rallies, circulating pamphlets and petitions, lobbying 
                State legislatures, risking public humiliation and even 
                incarceration, suffragists slowly changed the minds of 
                their fellow Americans and the laws of our Nation.

                Thanks to their efforts, by the mid-19th century some 
                States recognized the right of women to own property 
                and to sign contracts independent of their spouses. In 
                1890, Wyoming became the first State to recognize a 
                woman's right to vote. Thirty years later, the 19th 
                Amendment made women's suffrage the law of the land. 
                But it would take another 40 years to pass the Equal 
                Pay Act of 1963, which promised women the same salary 
                for performing the same jobs as men, and the Civil 
                Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed employment 
                discrimination based on gender. Another 8 years would 
                pass before Title IX of the Education Amendments of 
                1972 assured American women equal opportunity in 
                education and sports programs.

                However, the promise of true equality has yet to be 
                realized. Despite historic changes in laws and 
                attitudes, a significant wage gap between men and women 
                persists, in traditional sectors as well as in emerging 
                fields, such as information technology. While 
                employment of computer scientists, programmers, and 
                operators has increased at a breathtaking rate--by 80 
                percent since 1983--fewer than one in three of these 
                high-wage jobs is filled by a woman. A recent report by 
                the Council of Economic Advisers noted that, even after 
                allowing for differences in education, age, and 
                occupation, the wage gap between men and women in high-
                technology professions is still approximately 12 
                percent--a gap similar to that estimated in the labor 
                market at large--and that, in both the old economy and 
                the new, the gap is even wider for women of color.

                To combat unfair pay practices and to close the wage 
                gap between men and women once and for all, I have 
                called on the Congress to support my Administration's 
                Equal Pay Initiative and to pass the Paycheck Fairness 
                Act. And in May of this year, I announced the creation 
                of a new Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) 
                Equal Pay Task Force to empower EEOC field staff with 
                the legal, technical, and investigatory support

[[Page 52640]]

                they need to pursue charges of pay discrimination and 
                to take appropriate action whenever such discrimination 
                occurs. I have also proposed in my fiscal 2001 budget 
                an initiative under which the National Science 
                Foundation will provide $20 million in grants to 
                postsecondary institutions and other organizations to 
                promote the full participation of women in the science 
                and technology fields.

                Today, a new century lies before us, offering us a 
                fresh opportunity to make real the promise that Abigail 
                Adams dreamed of more than two centuries ago. As we 
                celebrate Women's Equality Day and the 80th anniversary 
                of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, let us keep 
                faith with our mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters 
                by removing any lingering barriers in their path to 
                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 August 26, 2000, as Women's 
                Equality Day. I call upon the citizens of our great 
                Nation to observe this day with appropriate programs 
                and activities.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand, and of the Independence of the United States 
                of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 00-22360
Filed 8-29-00; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P