Women's Equality Day, 1997

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.

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.