Gerald R. Ford

“ This year, 1975, has been designated as International Women's Year, dedicated to equality between men and women. It is also the two-hundredth year of our Nation-a Nation born, nurtured and dedicated to the proposition that all people are entitled to be equal before the law.
Several more States need to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment before it becomes part of our Constitution. It would be most fitting for this to be accomplished during our Nation's two-hundredth year. In this Land of the Free, it is right, and by nature it ought to be, that all men and all women are equal before the law. ”

“ Recognizing that the proposed Equal Rights Amendment is the logical and rightful extension of the Nineteenth Amendment to rights other than voting, the President has, since 1972, annually set aside the 26th of August in recognition of the real and practical need to ensure that equal legal rights are enjoyed by women and men. ”