WHEREAS, women of every race, ethnicity, class, religion, and age have made historic contributions to the growth and strength of our state and our nation in countless recorded and unrecorded ways; and

WHEREAS, women have played and continue to play critical economic, cultural, and social roles in every sphere of the life by constituting a significant portion of the labor force both inside and outside of the home; and

WHEREAS, women were particularly important in the establishment of early charitable, philanthropic, and cultural institutions in our nation; and

WHEREAS, women have played a unique role throughout the history our nation by providing the majority of the volunteer labor force; and

WHEREAS, women have served as leaders in the forefront of every major progressive social change movement, not only in securing their own rights of suffrage and equal opportunity, but also in the abolitionist movement, the emancipation movement, the industrial labor movement, the civil rights movement, and other movements, especially the peace movement, which have created a more fair and just society for all; and

WHEREAS, women have served our country courageously in all branches of the U.S. military, whether on the front lines, as pilots, mechanics, officers, nurses, gathering intelligence, and as leaders and advisors, in addition to countless other roles critical to safety and freedom here at home and abroad; and

WHEREAS, despite these contributions, the role of women in history has been consistently overlooked and undervalued in the literature, teaching, and study of American history;

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby proclaim March 2023 as

Women’s History Month

in Maine, and I call upon the people of Maine to observe this month with the appropriate study, programs, and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this eighth day of March Two Thousand Twenty-Three