Women's History Month, 1996

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Part III

The President

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Proclamation 6872--Women's History Month, 1996

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 6872 of March 19, 1996

Women's History Month, 1996

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

It is impossible to fully appreciate America's proud
history without recognizing the extraordinary
contributions that women have made to our country since
its founding. Women's History Month provides an
opportunity to celebrate the countless women who have
enriched our Nation and to ensure that their
achievements--in homes and businesses, schools and
hospitals, courtrooms and statehouses--will always be
remembered.

We have come a long way since Abigail Adams asked her
husband John to ``remember the ladies'' when drafting
the Constitution, and we recognize that women not only
have broadened and reshaped the path laid by our
Founding Fathers, but also have made new avenues toward
progress and justice. Female workers filled the textile
mills that drove the Industrial Revolution. Women like
Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Elizabeth
Cady Stanton fought tirelessly for suffrage and women's
rights. Jane Addams founded America's first settlement
house for poor immigrants and established social work
as a new and respected field. And farm and migrant
laborers across the country gained the leadership of
Dolores Huerta when she joined the newly created United
Farm Workers Union.

Indeed, there is no aspect of our history left
untouched by women--from the first published American
poet, Anne Bradstreet; to Sacajawea, Lewis and Clark's
interpreter and guide; to Harriet Tubman, heroine of
the Underground Railroad; to Margaret Mead, who
revolutionized the study of anthropology. Writers and
artists such as Laura Ingalls Wilder, Mary Cassatt,
Beverly Sills, Amy Tan, and Martha Graham have captured
our imaginations. Champions like Wilma Rudolph and
Bonnie Blair have taken America to great heights in the
international sports world.

Today, women make up close to half of our Nation's
labor force, and women-owned businesses are changing
the face of the American and global economies. But
barriers to equality remain. Despite the efforts of
women like Esther Peterson, a leader in the effort to
end gender-based salary differences, many women are
still paid considerably less than their male
counterparts. Often these women also struggle with the
dual responsibilities of raising a family and meeting
the demands of a full-time job.

Last September, thousands of women from around the
globe met to discuss these issues at the United Nations
Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, and
to develop a Platform for Action. The resulting
document represents a powerful consensus on the need to
advance women's status by improving access to
education, health care, jobs, and credit. It describes
the fundamental desire of all women to enjoy basic
legal and human rights and to take part in political
life. Only through our commitment to these principles
can we forever end discrimination and injustice based
on gender, promote women's full participation in all
aspects of American life, and join people everywhere
who seek 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 March 1996, as Women's
History Month. I call upon Government officials,
educators, and all Ameri

cans to observe this month with appropriate programs,
ceremonies, and activities; to remember year-round the
many important contributions that women make to our
country each day; and to learn and share information
about women's history in homes, classrooms, and
community centers across the Nation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twentieth.