Emma Watson was just 24 when she presented her 2014 UN Speech on Gender Equality.
She began by inviting us all to take part in the conversation, “I am reaching out to you because I need your help. We want to end gender inequality—and to do that we need everyone to be involved.”
“For the record, feminism by definition is: ‘The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.’”
So, has anything changed since then?
Yes it has. Female empowerment is on the rise. Courageous and inspiring women such at the ones you read from below have paved the way for the #MeToo movement and a slow-but-steady dissolution of the gender gap.
There’s still a long way to go but let’s keep the idea of gender equality top of mind with some amazing quotes from famous women that speak of leadership, empowerment and what is it to be a woman.
Germaine Greer
An agile thinker, incredible writer and broad-minded intellectual, Greer has authored over 20 books on feminism including The Female Eunuch and The Whole Woman.
Here are some of her inspirational quotes.
#1 “The house wife is an unpaid employee in her husband’s house in return for the security of being a permanent employee.”
#2 “Women live lives of continual apology. They are born and raised to take the blame for other people’s behavior. If they are treated without respect, they tell themselves that they have failed to earn respect. If their husbands do not fancy them, it is because they are unattractive.”
Gloria Steinem
American Feminist, Gloria Steinem, 85, became a spokeswoman for feminism in the 1960s. There are so many positive things we can take from her words.
#3 “A gender-equal society would be one where the word ‘gender’ does not exist: where everyone can be themselves.”
#4 “Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry.”
#5 “A liberated woman is one who has sex before marriage and a job after.”
#6 “I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.”
#7 “Rich cultures, patriarchal cultures, value thin women, like ours; poor ones value fat women. But all patriarchal cultures value weak women. So for women to become physically strong is very profound.”
#8 “A woman reading Playboy feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi manual.”
Emma Watson
The 29-year-old British actress has almost become more famous for her empowered feminist quotes than for her role as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter.
#9 “I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality either.”
#10 “If men don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted women won’t feel compelled to be submissive. If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled.”
#11 “Young girls are told you have to be the delicate princess. Hermione taught them that you can be the warrior.”
#12 “Girls should never be afraid to be smart.”
Beyonce
Singer and feminist, Beyonce, 31, has coined many an inspirational quote. Here are some of our faves.
#13 “The most alluring thing a woman can have is confidence.”
#14 “I truly believe that women should be financially independent from their men. And let’s face it, money gives men the power to run the show. It gives men the power to define value. They define what’s sexy. And men define what’s feminine. It’s ridiculous.”
#15 “We have to teach our boys the rules of equality and respect, so that as they grow up gender equality becomes a natural way of life. And we have to teach our girls that they can reach as high as humanly possible.”
Clementine Ford
Clementine Ford, author of Fight Like A Girl has voiced many strong women quotes and has a very powerful Instagram feed @clementine-ford.
#16 “If history bothered to document our stories, there wouldn’t be enough paper in the world to bear witness to all the women who’ve been imprisoned because our emotions proved too inconvenient for men to handle and too terrifying for them to ignore.”
#17 “I wake up every day assured of my right to not only participate in the world as an equal part of it, but to loudly reject the narrative that keeps trying to tell me to pipe down, fold in, shrivel up, simper, apologise and slink my way through life so as not to offend or upset anyone with the complicated, beautiful mess that is me.”
#18 “When there are so many people willing to degrade women so horrifically just for having the nerve to express an opinion, it doesn’t take long for us to regress into silence.”
Every single day, women around the world declare what it is to be a woman and help the rise of the Divine Feminine.
#19 “Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.”
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