Happy International Women’s Day, BUSTies! In honor of today’s very important celebration, we’ve compiled a list of awesome quotes from our favorite feminist trailblazers. You know, the badass ladies who impacted (and are impacting) our history in unforgettable ways. From Jane Austen to Malala Yousafzai, these women have inspired us to stand up and fight for what we believe in. And here’s to many more years of celebrating YOU, lovely readers! Because, well, you rock and are totally inspirational for us as well.
1. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“At some point I was a happy African feminist who does not hate men and who likes to wear lip gloss and high heels for herself and not for men.”
2. Bette Davis
3. Beyonce
“We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead.”
4. Jane Austen
“I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.”
5. Cheris Kramarae
“Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.”
6. Malala Yousafzai
“We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.”
7. Annie Lennox
“We all fight over what the label ‘feminism’ means but for me it’s about empowerment. It’s not about being more powerful than men – it’s about having equal rights with protection, support, justice. It’s about very basic things. It’s not a badge like a fashion item.”
8. Audre Lorde
“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.”
9. Gloria Steinem
“A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.”
10. bell hooks
“What’s really sad is that so many young women between the ages of 16 and 25 are ignorant and they already believe that women get the same pay as men. They don’t even really understand that equality hasn’t happened with the pay force.”
11. Andrea Dworkin
“Feminism is hated because women are hated. Anti-feminism is a direct expression of misogyny; It is the political defense of women hating.”
12. Susan B. Anthony
“The day will come when men will recognize woman as his peer, not only at the fireside, but in councils of the nation. Then, and not until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes that shall result in the highest development of the race.”
13. Hillary Clinton
“Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights. Let us not forget that among those rights are the right to speak freely — and the right to be heard.”
14. Maya Angelou
“I’m a feminist. I’ve been a female for a long time now. It’d be stupid not to be on my own side.”
15. Anaïs Nin
“I hate men who are afraid of women’s strength.”
16. Betty Friedan
“No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor.”
17. Mindy Kaling
“I always get asked, ‘Where do you get your confidence?’ I think people are well meaning, but it’s pretty insulting. Because what it means to me is, ‘You, Mindy Kaling, have all the trappings of a very marginalized person. You’re not skinny, you’re not white, you’re a woman. Why on earth would you feel like you’re worth anything?”
18. Virginia Woolf
“For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.”
19. Rebecca West
“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.”
20. Roxane Gay
“I would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all.”
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