[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 35 (Monday, September 4, 2000)]
[Pages 1953-1954]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7334--Women's Equality Day, 2000

August 26, 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 
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

[[Page 1954]]

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.
                                            William J. Clinton

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., August 29, 
2000]

 Note:  This proclamation was published in the  Federal Register  on 
August 30.