For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 24, 2001
Women's Equality Day, 2001
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Women's Equality Day marks the anniversary of women's enfranchisement and a pivotal victory for women's rights. Our Nation recognized a woman's right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, but the roots of the women's rights movement go back to at least 80 years earlier.
of the women's rights movement go back to at least 80 years earlier.
In 1840, Elizabeth Cady Stanton met
Lucretia Mott at the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in
London. They, along with the other women there, expected to
join in the anti-slavery proceedings, but male delegates refused to
allow them to participate. Thus rebuffed, Mott and Stanton
began a journey that would lead to the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.
There, the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments called for women's
equality, including the right to vote and to take part in our Nation's
great moral debates.
Nearly all women's rights advocates also
fought for the abolition of slavery. One hundred and fifty
years ago, anti-slavery suffragette Sojourner Truth gave a powerful
address expounding on the strength of women. Her impassioned
call for women to actively participate in social justice movements
became a legendary link between abolition and suffrage. That same
year, Susan B. Anthony met Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and they later
joined Harriet Tubman, Mary Ann Shad Cary, Lucy Stone, and other
abolitionists to pursue the goal of women's suffrage. Many
19th Century abolitionist suffragettes did not live to see the fruit of
their work for women's enfranchisement, but their efforts led the way
for women to fight for and win recognition of their rights as equal
participants in our Republic.
Tremendous advancements have been made in
the fight for equality. But we must remain diligent in
enforcing our Nation's laws. And we still have work to do in
this area. Today, thousands of people, mainly women and children, are
trafficked into the United States each year and forced to work in the
sex industry, sweatshops, field labor, and domestic
servitude. Beyond these vile acts, workplace discrimination
and targeted violence continue to take place, despite their rejection
by our communities and legal system.
Our efforts to ensure women equal rights
must include the protection of women from violence and equal access to
justice. This is particularly vital for women who face
geographic, cultural, and other barriers to social justice
services. Women victimized by crime should receive equitable
and compassionate care, including access to advocacy, emergency
shelter, law enforcement protection, and legal aid. That is
why my 2002 budget requests increased funding for Federal initiatives
to combat violence against women and to continue the guarantees of
basic civil rights and liberties for women.
As we remember the well-known champions of
women's equality, we also honor the millions of women whose private
efforts and personal ideals continue to sustain and improve this
land. On Women's Equality Day, I call upon all Americans to
defend the freedoms gained by those who came before us and to continue
to expand our shared vision of social justice and equality.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH,
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, 2001, as Women's Equality Day. I
call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with
appropriate programs and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my
hand this twenty-fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord two
thousand one, and of the Independence of the United States of America
the two hundred and twenty-sixth.
GEORGE W. BUSH
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