Women's Equality Day, 2010

Proclamation 8548 of August 26, 2010

Women's Equality Day, 2010

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Ninety years ago, on August 26, 1920, the ratification
of the 19th Amendment to our Constitution was
completed, guaranteeing women the right to vote,
renewing our commitment to equality and justice, and
marking a turning point in our Nation's history. As we
celebrate this important milestone and the achievements
and shattered ceilings of the past, we also recognize
the inequalities that remain and our charge to overcome
them.

In a letter to John Adams, who was then serving as a
delegate to the First Continental Congress, Abigail
Adams once implored her husband to ``remember the
ladies'' in the ``new code of laws'' of our fledgling
country. It has taken the collective efforts of daring
and tenacious women over many generations to realize
the principles and freedoms enshrined in our
Constitution. Standing on the shoulders of these
trailblazers, we pay tribute to the brave women who dot
the pages of our history books, and to those who have
quietly broken barriers in our workplaces, communities,
and society.

We can see the remarkable fruits of past struggles and
victories today. For nearly two centuries, America
could only imagine a female justice sitting on the
Supreme Court of the United States. Today, for the
first time in our Nation's history, three women sit on
the bench of the highest court of the land, and I am
proud to be the first President to nominate two women
to the Court. Women lead in boardrooms and in our Armed
Forces, in classrooms and conference rooms, and in
every sector of society. Their boundless determination
has enabled today's young women to dream bigger as they
see themselves reflected at the highest levels of
business, communications, and public service--including
in my Administration and Cabinet. If we continue to
fight for our hopes and aspirations, there will be no
limit to the possibilities for our daughters and
granddaughters.

As we celebrate 90 years of progress on Women's
Equality Day, we also recognize the realities of the
present. Women comprise less than one-fifth of our
Congress and account for a mere fraction of the chief
executives at the helm of our biggest companies. Women
hold only 27 percent of jobs in science and
engineering, which are critical to our economic growth
in a 21st-century economy. And, almost 50 years after
the Equal Pay Act was enacted, American women still
only earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn. This gap
increases among minority women and those living with
disabilities.

These disparities remind us that our work remains
unfinished. My Administration remains committed to
advancing women's equality in all areas of our society
and around the world. I was proud to create the White
House Council on Women and Girls to help ensure that
American women and girls are treated fairly in all
matters of public policy. I also appointed the first
White House Advisor on Violence Against Women, whose
leadership will guide my Administration in confronting
violence and sexual assault against women. The Lilly
Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the first bill I signed as
President, restored basic protections against pay
discrimination for women, and to build upon that law, I
support passage of the Paycheck Fairness

Act. I have also established the National Equal Pay
Enforcement Task Force to ensure equal pay laws are
vigorously enforced throughout the country. Workplace
flexibility is also important to women and families,
and we will continue coordinating with Federal agencies
to make quality child care more affordable, promote
work policies that improve work-family balance, and
advance the economic development and security of all
women.

Fifteen years after the world gathered in Beijing for
the Fourth World Conference on Women, far too many
women around the world still lack access to basic
education and economic opportunity, face gender-based
violence, and cannot participate fully and equally in
their societies. To help address this, I appointed the
first-ever Ambassador at Large for Global Women's
Issues to elevate the importance of women's empowerment
in all aspects of our foreign policy. From Afghanistan
to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United
States will continue its commitment to the rights of
women around the world.

Women's rights are ultimately human rights, and the
march for equality will not end until full parity and
equal opportunity are attained in every State and
workplace across our Nation. It remains our
responsibility to ensure that the principles of justice
and equality apply to all Americans, regardless of
gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation,
disability, or socioeconomic status. If we stay true to
our founding ideals and the example of those who
insisted upon nothing less than full equality, we can
and will perpetuate the line of progress that runs
throughout our Nation's history for generations to
come.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim August 26, 2010, as
Women's Equality Day. I call upon the people of the
United States to celebrate the achievements of women
and recommit themselves to the goal of true gender
equality in this country.

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