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7 <br /> b. Women's History Month Proclamation <br /> The Board considered voting to approve a proclamation recognizing March 2020 as <br /> Women's History Month in Orange County and authorizing the Chair to sign. <br /> BACKGROUND: Celebration of Women's History Month had its roots in the socialist and labor <br /> movements in New York City. The first "Women's Day" took place on February 28, 1909. The <br /> day honored the one-year anniversary of the garment worker's strikes that had taken place in <br /> New York, where thousands of women marched for economic rights. That strike followed <br /> another strike that occurred in 1857 when garment workers marched for equal rights and 10- <br /> hour work days. Within two years the event grew into an international event. In 1975, the United <br /> Nations officially began International Women's Day; which will be celebrated on March 8t" this <br /> year. <br /> At the inception of Women's History Month, feminists in the United States saw the designation <br /> of the month as a way to celebrate a history that had largely overlooked the contributions of <br /> women in America. Women's History Month has its origins as a national celebration in 1981 <br /> when Congress authorized and requested President Jimmy Carter proclaim the week beginning <br /> March 7, 1982 as "Women's History Week." In 1987, the Women's History Month Project <br /> petitioned the US Congress to designate the month of March as "Women's History Month." <br /> Ronald Reagan was the first president to proclaim March as Women's History Month. <br /> Currently, local, state and federal governments annually proclaim March as "Women's History <br /> Month." Each year the National Women's History Project declares a theme. The 2020 theme is <br /> "Valiant Women of the Vote." The theme honors "the brave women who fought to win suffrage <br /> rights for women, and for the women who continue to fight for the voting rights of others." <br /> Annette Moore, Human Rights and Relations Director, read the Proclamation: <br /> ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br /> WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH <br /> PROCLAMATION <br /> WHEREAS, American women of every race, class, and ethnic background have made historic <br /> contributions to the growth and strength of our Nation in countless recorded and unrecorded <br /> ways; and <br /> WHEREAS, American women have played and continue to play critical economic, cultural, and <br /> social role in every sphere of the life of the Nation by constituting a significant portion of the <br /> labor force working inside and outside of the home; and <br /> WHEREAS, American women of every race, class, and ethnic background served as early <br /> leaders in the forefront of every major progressive social change movement; <br /> WHEREAS, American women have been leaders, not only in securing their own rights of <br /> suffrage and equal opportunity, but also in the abolitionist movement, the emancipation <br /> movement, the industrial labor movement, the civil rights movement, and other movements, <br /> especially the peace movement, which create a more fair and just society for all; and <br /> WHEREAS, because of the courage of so many bold women who dared to transcend <br /> preconceived expectations and prove they were capable of doing all that a man could do and <br />