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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Abuja, Nigeria)
| For Immediate Release |
August 26, 2000 |
WOMEN'S EQUALITY DAY, 2000
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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
In March of 1776, 4 months before the signing of the Declaration of
Independence, Abigail Adams sent a letter to her husband John in Philadelphia,
where he was participating in the Second Continental Congress. "...[I]n the new
Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make," she wrote,
"I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to
them than your ancestors." Almost a century and a half would pass before her
desire was realized with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the
Const7itution, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
The road to civic, economic, and social equality for women in our Nation
has been long and arduous, marked by frustrations and setbacks, yet inspired by
the courageous actions of many heroic Americans, women and men alike. Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Lucretia Mott, Frederick
Douglass, Lucy Stone -- these and so many others refused to remain silent in
the face of injustice. Speaking out at rallies, circulating pamphlets and
petitions, lobbying State legislatures, risking public humiliation and even
incarceration, suffragists slowly changed the minds of their fellow Americans
and the laws of our Nation.
Thanks to their efforts, by the mid-19th century some States recognized
the right of women to own property and to sign contracts independent of their
spouses. In 1890, Wyoming became the first State to recognize a woman's right
to vote. Thirty years later, the 19th Amendment made women's suffrage the law
of the land. But it would take another 40 years to pass the Equal Pay Act of
1963, which promised women the same salary for performing the same jobs as men,
and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed employment discrimination
based on gender.
Another 8 years would pass before Title IX of the Education Amendments
of 1972 assured American women equal opportunity in education and sports
programs.
However, the promise of true equality has yet to be realized. Despite
historic changes in laws and attitudes, a significant wage gap between men and
women persists, in traditional sectors as well as in emerging fields, such as
information tech-nology. While employment of computer scientists, programmers,
and operators has increased at a breathtaking rate -- by 80 percent since 1983
-- fewer than one in three of these high-wage jobs is filled by a woman. A
recent report by the Council of Economic Advisers noted that, even after
allowing for differences in education, age, and occupation, the wage gap
between men and women in high-technology professions is still approximately 12
percent -- a gap similar to that estimated in the labor market at large -- and
that, in both the old economy and the new, the gap is even wider for women of
color.
To combat unfair pay practices and to close the wage gap between men and
women once and for all, I have called on the Congress to support my
Administration's Equal Pay Initiative and to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.
And in May of this year, I announced the creation of a new Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Equal Pay Task Force to empower EEOC field staff
with the legal, technical, and investigatory support they need to pursue
charges of pay discrimination and to take appropriate action whenever such
discrimination occurs. I have also proposed in my fiscal 2001 budget an
initiative under which the National Science Foundation will provide $20 million
in grants to postsecondary institutions and other organizations to promote the
full participation of women in the science and technology fields.
Today, a new century lies before us, offering us a fresh opportunity to
make real the promise that Abigail Adams dreamed
of more than two centuries ago. As we celebrate Women's Equality Day and
the 80th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, let us keep
faith with our mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters by removing any lingering
barriers in their path to 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 August 26, 2000, 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 twenty-sixth day of
August, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
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