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 87

STAT.]

PROCLAMATION 4236-AUG. 16, 1973

1239

of women in the middle and higher grade levels of Government employment has significantly increased. And we are determined to do better still. . While we are making great strides to eliminate outright job discrimination because of sex in the Federal Government, we must recognize that people's attitudes cannot be changed by laws alone. There still exist elusive prejudices born of mores and customs that stand in the way of progress for women. We must do all that we can to overcome these barriers against what is fair and right. Because I firmly believe that women should not be denied equal protection of the laws of this Nation and equal opportunity to participate fully in our national life, I reaffirm again my support for the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. This amendment can represent a giant step forward in achieving full equality of opportunity for all Americans as we approach the 200th birthday of our Nation. I hope it wUl be speedily ratified. The Congress has, by House Joint Resolution 52, 93rd Congress, designated August 26, 1973, as Women's Equality Day, and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in commemoration of that day in 1920 on which women of America were first guaranteed the right to vote. NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICHARD NIXON, President of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the people of the United States and interested groups and organizations to observe August 26, 1973, as Women's Equality Day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. I further urge all our people to use this occasion to reflect on the importance of achieving equal rights and opportunities for women and to dedicate themselves anew to that great goal. For the cause of equal rights and opportunities for women is inseparable from the cause of human dignity and equal justice for all. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventythree, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-eighth.

^e Stat. 1523.

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p. 350.

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