STATE OF MAINE
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IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FOUR
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JOINT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING MARCH 8, 2024 AS
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
WHEREAS, International Women's Day has been celebrated since 1911; and
WHEREAS, Maine women have contributed greatly to the State's, the country's and the
world's history; and
WHEREAS, those Maine women include Frances Perkins, the first woman appointed to
the United States Cabinet; Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman to serve in both the United
States House of Representatives and the United States Senate; Olympia Snowe, the first woman
to serve in both chambers at both the state and federal levels; Edna St. Vincent Millay, a Pulitzer
Prize-winning poet; Cornelia "Fly Rod" Crosby, the first registered Maine guide; Samantha
Smith, an international peace advocate; Gail Laughlin, the first woman in Maine to practice
law; Dorothea Dix, a nurse and advocate for the mentally ill; Frannie Peabody, an HIV/AIDS
activist; Judith Isaacson, a Holocaust survivor and educator; Mary Low, one of the first
American women to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree; Elizabeth Russell, a groundbreaking
geneticist; Florence Whitehouse, a suffragist, activist and novelist; Rachel Talbot Ross, the
first African American woman to serve as Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives;
Valerie Stanfill, currently serving as Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court; and
Janet T. Mills, the first woman in Maine to serve as Attorney General of Maine and the first
woman to serve as Governor of Maine; and
WHEREAS, according to the Center for American Women and Politics, in 2024 a record
32.8% of the 7,386 seats in the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States are currently
held by women, including 43.5% of the seats in the Maine Legislature; and
WHEREAS, Maine is one of 26 states with a woman serving as a presiding officer of its
Legislature; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED: That We, the Members of the One Hundred and Thirty-first Legislature now
assembled in the Second Regular Session, on behalf of the people we represent, take this
opportunity to recognize the contributions of Maine women throughout our history, the
ongoing march toward gender equality, both in Maine and around the world, and the
designation of March 8, 2024 as International Women's Day.
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