98-5816. Women's History Month, 1998

[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 42 (Wednesday, March 4, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 10741-10742]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-5816]


      

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Part VIII





The President





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Proclamation 7071--Women's History Month, 1998


                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 42 / Wednesday, March 4, 1998 / 
Presidential Documents

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Title 3--
The President

[[Page 10741]]

                Proclamation 7071 of March 2, 1998

                
Women's History Month, 1998

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The Preamble to the Constitution begins, ``We, the 
                people.'' Yet that phrase, inspiring as it is, has not 
                always included all Americans. Women's history in 
                America has been the story of the struggle of women of 
                all racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds to be 
                included in that simple but powerful statement. It is 
                the story as well of how, in striving to reach their 
                own great potential, women have strengthened and 
                enriched our Nation.

                In every era of American history, women have braved 
                enormous challenges to change our world for the better. 
                Women of faith in the early 17th century dared a 
                dangerous journey and the unknown wilderness to seek 
                freedom of conscience in a new land. As our Nation 
                struggled for independence and to establish a new, more 
                enlightened form of government, women like Esther 
                DeBerdt Reed and Sarah Franklin Bache supplied food, 
                clothes, and funds for Washington's soldiers. Freedom 
                fighters like Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman led 
                hundreds of enslaved men and women to liberty through 
                the Underground Railroad, and social reformers like 
                Gertrude Bonnin advanced the human rights of American 
                Indians. Suffragists like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth 
                Cady Stanton, and Luisa Capetillo challenged the 
                conventions of their times and sought to secure for 
                women one of the most basic rights within our 
                democracy.

                This year marks the 150th anniversary of the women's 
                rights movement in America and its immeasurable 
                contributions to our Nation's promise of justice and 
                equality for all. The visionary women and men who 
                gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, in July of 1848 for 
                the first Women's Rights Convention in history gave 
                voice so powerfully to women's aspirations for 
                inclusion and empowerment that their vision continues 
                to shape our world today.

                Once disenfranchised, American women now serve at the 
                highest levels of government, as Justices of the 
                Supreme Court and in increasing numbers in the Cabinet 
                and the United States Congress. Once denied the 
                resources and opportunities to play organized sports, 
                American women made sporting history this year by 
                winning the first-ever Olympic Gold Medal in women's 
                ice hockey. Women are cracking the glass ceilings of 
                corporate management to lead some of our country's most 
                prominent businesses. As parents and partners, 
                entrepreneurs and artists, politicians and scientists, 
                women are helping to build an America in which all 
                citizens, regardless of gender, are free to live out 
                their dreams.

                Thanks to the efforts of women leaders, little girls 
                across America today know far fewer limits than did 
                their mothers and grandmothers. But there still remains 
                work to be done to create a more just America, and we 
                must rededicate ourselves to ending the discrimination 
                that women still face. We must continue our efforts to 
                help women succeed at work and at home, to be free from 
                violent crime, and to enjoy quality health care. In 
                doing so, we will confirm our conviction that ``We, the 
                people'' includes us all.

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                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 1998 as Women's 
                History Month. I encourage all Americans to observe 
                this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and 
                activities, and to remember throughout the year the 
                many voices and stories of courageous women who have 
                made our Nation strong.

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

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 98-5816
Filed 3-3-98; 11:31 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P