Presidential Document2024-19444
Women's Equality Day, 2024
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
August 28, 2024
Signed
August 23, 2024
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 167 (Wednesday, August 28, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 167 (Wednesday, August 28, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 68773-68775]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-19444]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 167 / Wednesday, August 28, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 68773]]
Proclamation 10794 of August 23, 2024
Women's Equality Day, 2024
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
One hundred and four years ago, American women won the
right to vote with the ratification of the 19th
Amendment, bringing us closer to living up to our
Nation's most fundamental values of dignity, fairness,
freedom, and equality. On Women's Equality Day, we
recognize the courage of generations of visionaries who
fought tirelessly for the sacred cause of women's
suffrage and all those who continue to work toward a
more equitable future for women and girls in America.
The 19th Amendment marked a critical milestone in our
Nation's history, but it did not guarantee the right to
vote for all. For many women of color, that right would
not be secured until decades later when the Voting
Rights Act was passed in 1965. Today, our Nation is
still facing relentless assaults on the sacred right to
vote freely and fairly and to have every vote count. At
the same time, women's fundamental rights are under
attack, which undermines our democracy and our
freedoms. These challenges serve as a critical reminder
that our work as a Nation is never done--realizing the
full promise of the 19th Amendment is as important
today as ever before.
My Administration is committed to upholding the vision
of suffragists, who understood that equality at the
ballot box was a critical step to advancing rights and
opportunities for American women. Over the past three
and a half years, Vice President Harris and I have
leveraged the full force of the Federal Government to
protect those rights and remove barriers that prevent
women and girls from reaching their full potential. We
are defending reproductive freedom, delivering the
highest women's prime-age labor force participation and
the narrowest gender pay gap on record, making historic
investments in the care economy, fighting to end
violence against women, increasing access to
educational opportunity, and promoting women's
representation, leadership, and human rights here at
home and around the globe.
Guaranteeing women access to affordable, quality health
care has also been a top priority for my
Administration. That is why we have been working to
address the maternal health crisis, with Vice President
Kamala Harris announcing our Blueprint for Addressing
the Maternal Health Crisis. Furthermore, in addition to
issuing an Executive Order directing the most
comprehensive set of executive actions to expand
research on women's health, last year the First Lady
and I were proud to launch the first-ever White House
Initiative on Women's Health Research, and the Advanced
Research Projects Agency for Health has dedicated $100
million to solve challenges in women's health. As part
of the Biden Cancer Moonshot, we are taking significant
actions to save and improve the lives of the millions
of American women facing cancer. During my first year
in office, we expanded coverage under the Affordable
Care Act, which requires insurers to pay for cancer
screenings and primary care visits, including those
that will detect cancer early when outcomes are best.
Furthermore, I have taken action to safeguard access to
reproductive care--and the Vice President and I will
keep calling on the Congress to restore Roe v. Wade as
the law of the land. Americans
[[Page 68774]]
show time and again that they agree that health care
decisions should be made by a woman with the help of
her doctor, not politicians--and we will continue
fighting to ensure that women can access the health
care they need in every State.
To be the strongest economy in the world, we cannot
leave women--who make up half our workforce--behind.
Through our American Rescue Plan, my Administration
made the biggest investment in child care ever, helping
over 225,000 child care programs that serve 10 million
children across the country keep their doors open and
enabling parents, especially mothers, to enter or
remain in the workforce. We have taken steps to advance
pay equity and transparency for Federal employees and
contractors, eliminating practices that allow pay
discrimination to follow workers from job to job and
helping workers better negotiate and reduce pay
inequities. We are also ensuring that women have access
to the millions of good-paying jobs created by the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science
Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Women and girls deserve to live free from violence and
fear. Next month marks 30 years since the Congress
passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)--a
historic law that I championed and wrote. VAWA gave our
Government more comprehensive tools to prevent and
prosecute sexual assault, provide support for
survivors, and save countless women's lives. Today,
this law, which I reauthorized in 2022, has record
funding levels and grant programs. In addition, my
Administration is working to address online harassment
and abuse, including image-based sexual abuse generated
by artificial intelligence. And we restored and
strengthened vital protections under Title IX for
students who have experienced campus sexual assault and
other forms of sex discrimination in schools and
universities.
Since I took office, I have been proud to serve
alongside the first woman ever elected as Vice
President, Kamala Harris, and to have appointed women
to the highest levels of my Administration, including a
record number of female Cabinet Secretaries. I
established the White House Gender Policy Council to
advance the rights of women and girls at home and
abroad. My Administration released the first-ever
National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality. And
during Women's History Month this year, I signed an
Executive Order to increase the representation of
women's history in the National Park System and to help
honor the legacy and contributions of women and girls
to our country.
My Administration will continue to fight for every
American's sacred right to vote--carrying on the legacy
of the suffragists we celebrate today. I continue to
call on the Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting
Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act to
restore and expand access to the ballot and prevent
voter suppression--because every American's voice
deserves to be heard.
We are making tremendous progress, but more must be
done to ensure equal rights and opportunity for women
and girls. I urge the Congress to recognize the
ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and affirm
the fundamental truth that all Americans should have
equal rights and protections under the law. This
Women's Equality Day, let us recommit to building a
country and a world where our daughters have the same
opportunities as our sons. Because when women thrive,
we all thrive.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., 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,
2024, as Women's Equality Day. I call upon the people
of the United States to celebrate and continue to build
on our country's progress toward gender equality and to
defend and strengthen the right to vote.
[[Page 68775]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-third day of August, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
ninth.
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(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2024-19444
Filed 8-27-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on August 28, 2024.
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