LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION commemorating the 99th Anniversary of Interna-
tional Women's Day, and celebrating New York State's women leaders, past
and present

WHEREAS, International Women's Day, March 8th, is a global day cele-
brating the economic, political and social achievements of women, past,
present and future; and
WHEREAS, In 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding
shorter hours, better pay and voting rights; and
WHEREAS, One year later, the first National Woman's Day was observed
across the United States on February 28th; women continued to celebrate
National Woman's Day on the last Sunday of February until 1913; and
WHEREAS, In 1911, International Women's Day was officially honored for
the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March
19th; more than one million women and men attended International Women's
Day rallies campaigning for women's rights to work and vote, to end
discrimination, and to run for and hold public office; and
WHEREAS, Less than a week later, on March 25th, the tragic Triangle
Shirtwaist Fire in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working
women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants; this disastrous event
drew significant attention to working conditions and labor legislation
in the United States, which became a focus of subsequent International
Women's Day events, and particularly so in the state and city of New
York; and
WHEREAS, New York State has been the birthplace and home of countless
numbers of accomplished and famous women who have been leaders in acade-
mia, eleemosynary institutions, industry and politics; and
WHEREAS, New York State's famous women leaders have included Susan B.
Anthony, who was a leader in the abolitionist and temperance movements
in her late 20s, and founded the National Woman Suffrage Association
along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and was chosen to be the first Ameri-
can woman, and one of only two New Yorkers, depicted upon United States
currency; and
WHEREAS, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the founders of the Women's
Movement, when she and other New Yorkers convened the first Women's
Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, bringing more than
300 individuals together, including the great orator Frederick Douglass,
to fight for Women's Equality; and
WHEREAS, Shirley Chisholm was elected to the New York State Assembly
in 1964, and Congress in 1968; she was a founding member of the National
Women's Political Caucus, and in 1972, became the first woman and first
African-American to have her name placed in nomination by a major poli-
tical party for the office of President; and
WHEREAS, The Great State of New York is honored to have been the
birthplace and home of countless influential women leaders, among whom
were Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Blackwell, Eleanor Roosevelt, Zora Neale
Hurston, Margaret Mead, Althea Gibson, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and
Justice Sonia Sotomayor; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the 99th Anniversary of International Women's Day, and to
celebrate New York State's women leaders, past and present; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body calls upon its members and fellow
New Yorkers to observe International Women's Day as a day in service to
our families, friends, neighbors, and those less fortunate than
ourselves; to moral causes greater than ourselves; and to the ongoing
work of the Women's Movement; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to the Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, the National
Women's History Museum in Alexandria, Virginia, and to the National
Organization for Women.