Women's Equality Day, 2012

Proclamation 8848 of August 24, 2012

Women's Equality Day, 2012

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

On Women's Equality Day, we mark the anniversary of our
Constitution's 19th Amendment, which secured the right
to vote for America's women. The product of profound
struggle and fierce hope, the 19th Amendment reaffirmed
what we have always known: that America is a place
where anything is possible and where each of us is
entitled to the full pursuit of our own happiness. We
also know that the defiant, can-do spirit that moved
millions to seek suffrage is what runs through the
veins of American history. It remains the wellspring of
all our progress. And nearly a century after the battle
for women's franchise was won, a new generation of
young women stands ready to carry that spirit forward
and bring us closer to a world where there are no
limits on how big our children can dream or how high
they can reach.

To keep our Nation moving ahead, all Americans--men and
women--must be able to help provide for their families
and contribute fully to our economy. That is why I have
made supporting the needs and aspirations of women and
girls a top priority for my Administration. From
signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law and
creating the White House Council on Women and Girls to
combatting sexual assault and promoting women's
economic and political empowerment at home and abroad,
we have worked to ensure women have the opportunities
they need and deserve at every stage of their lives. As
women around the world continue to fight for their seat
at the table, my Administration will keep their
interests at the core of our policy decisions--and we
will join them every step of the way.

Today, women are nearly 50 percent of our workforce,
the majority of students in our colleges and graduate
schools, and a growing number of breadwinners in their
families. From business to medicine to our military,
women are leading the fields that were closed off to
them only decades ago. We owe that legacy of progress
to our mothers and aunts, grandmothers and great-
grandmothers--women who proved not only that
opportunity and equality do not come without a fight,
but also that they are possible. Even with the gains we
have made, we still have work to do. As we mark this
92nd anniversary of the 19th Amendment, let us reflect
on how far we have come toward fully realizing the
basic freedoms enshrined in our founding documents,
rededicate ourselves to closing the gaps that remain,
and continue to widen the doors of opportunity for all
of our daughters and sons.

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, 2012, as
Women's Equality Day. I call upon the people of the
United States to celebrate the achievements of women
and recommit to realizing gender equality in this
country.

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