MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1998 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Senator(s) Carlton, Harden, Blackmon

Senate Concurrent Resolution 598

(As Adopted by Senate and House)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING AND COMMENDING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN LEGISLATORS, INC. 

WHEREAS, 1998 will mark the 150th anniversary of the Women's Rights Movement in the United States, a bold and courageous civil rights movement that began in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, at the first Women's Rights Convention ever held; and

WHEREAS, the Declaration of Sentiments issued by that Convention represents a work as fundamental to our nation's commitment to liberty and personal freedom as does our Declaration of Independence; and

WHEREAS, that Declaration launched a movement that has changed this nation and the hopes of its women irrevocably; and

WHEREAS, the resulting Women's Rights Movement has had a profound impact on all aspects of American life, and has opened new and well-deserved opportunities for women in all fields of endeavor; and

WHEREAS, despite this century-and-a-half of efforts now spanning seven generations of unceasing work to achieve equality for fully half the American population, the twenty-first century will find an ever-increasing need for both women and men to share in the fundamental responsibilities for our national life and the blessings that must result from full and equal participation in society; and

WHEREAS, the National Order of Women Legislators, established in 1938, was formed not long after women's suffrage was added to the United States Constitution as the 19th Amendment; and

WHEREAS, the National Foundation for Women Legislators, Inc., and the National Order of Women Legislators honors women legislators in 1998 for 60 years of remarkable leadership in all fifty states; and

WHEREAS, not only have women won the right to vote, they are being elected to public office at all levels of government; and

WHEREAS, it is the strongly-held belief of this Legislature that, while much remains to be accomplished, the Women's Rights Movement has been tremendously successful in changing the status of women in this country:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MISSISSIPPI STATE SENATE, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby commend the National Order of Women Legislators upon the occasion of the organization's 60th Anniversary, and celebrate the order's 60 years of leadership and commitment to public service.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be made available to the Capitol Press Corps.