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, including 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 ground-breaking geneticist; Mabel Wadsworth, a birth control activist and women's health educator; and Florence Whitehouse, a suffragist, activist and novelist; and

WHEREAS,  a record 24.8% of the 7,383 seats in the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States are currently held by women, including 34.41% of the seats in the Maine Legislature; and

WHEREAS,  Maine is one of only 6 states with a woman serving as Speaker of the House; now, therefore, be it