Proclamation 5155

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

In countless ways, both recorded and unrecorded, women have played a vital role in the development of this Nation. The greatness of the United States reflects the accomplishments of American women throughout our history.

Today, whether single or married, with children or other dependents, women continue to assume critically important leadership positions in our Nation's economic, cultural, and social life. They are contributing substantially to the character and growth of the economy and permanently influencing the development of our political, commercial, judicial, and legal institutions.

Although women have always constituted a significant portion of America's labor force and, in fact, represent nearly half of it today, more and more of them are serving in demanding and rewarding professional jobs. Women are university presidents, astronauts, military officers, corporate officials, labor leaders, business owners, and members of innumerable other professions. They serve in State and local governments as well as in the Federal government and the United States Congress. They are members of the President's Cabinet, the diplomatic corps, and, making more history in 1981, a woman is now a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Women who work in the traditional roles of mothers and homemakers continue to be a wellspring of our Nation's strength, helping us to maintain our social and spiritual values. They have fostered unity and stability in our families, which are the cornerstone of American life. They serve as the backbone of our volunteer movement, which certainly is one of the most powerful forces for good anywhere on the earth. The vision of women has made them leaders in many causes which have brought important social reform in such areas as abolition, health care, child labor laws, temperance, voting rights, and improvement of industrial labor conditions.

It is appropriate that all Americans recognize the outstanding achievements of women and celebrate their continuing contributions to our Nation and its heritage.

The Congress, by H.J. Res. 422, has designated the week beginning March 4, 1984, as "Women's History Week" and has requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of that week.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning March 4, 1984, as Women's History Week. I encourage all individuals, governmental agencies, and private institutions and associations throughout the country to observe this occasion by participating in appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 2nd day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eightyfour, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighth.

RONALD REAGAN

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:32 p.m., March 2, 1984]