Women’s Rights Quotations (Quotes) & Famous Words
“More countries have understood that women's equality is a prerequisite for development,” by Kofi Annan, Seventh secretary-general of the United Nations, 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.
“Never underestimate the power of a woman,” by Nellie McClung (Important figure in women getting to vote in the USA).
“Never underestimate a man’s ability to underestimate a woman,” Kathleen Turner from the movie V.I. Warshawski.
“Prejudice is the child of ignorance,” William Hazlitt.
“The only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself, to know herself as a person, is by creative work of her own. There is no other way,” by Betty Friedan.
“I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves,” by Mary Wollstonecraft.
“You don't have to be anti-man to be pro-woman,” by Jane Galvin Lewis.
“Scratch most feminists and underneath there is a woman who longs to be a sex object. The difference is that is not all she wants to be,” Betty Rollin.
“With age come the inner, the higher life. Who would be forever young, to dwell always in externals?” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
"There's a special place in hell for women who don't help other women!" Madelyn Albright.
"There's a special place in hell for men who abuse women," Eric Gondwe.
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves,” by Abraham Lincoln, (1809 - 1865), 16th US president (in reference to slavery, but quote is also applicable to women’s rights).
“There is a growing strength in women but it's in the forehead, not the forearm,” Beverly Sills.
"I 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,” Rebecca West, 1913.
“Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience,” by Mary Wollstonecraft.
“Everybody counts in applying democracy. And there will never be a true democracy until every responsible and law-abiding adult in it, without regard to race, sex, color or creed has his or her own inalienable and unpurchasable voice in government,” by Carrie Chapman Catt.
“We have to free half of the human race, the women, so that they can help to free the other half,” by Emmeline Pankhurst.
“It is not gender which is destroying our culture.... it is our interpretations of culture which has destroyed gender equality,” by Cambodian civil society group.
“The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes,” by Bella Abzug.
“If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it,” by Margaret Fuller.
“The dogma of woman's complete historical subjection to men must be rated as one of the most fantastic myths ever created by the human mind,” by Mary Ritter Beard (1876-1958).
“Gender inequality, which remains pervasive worldwide, tends to lower the productivity of labour and the efficiency of labour allocation in households and the economy, intensifying the unequal distribution of resources. It also contributes to the non-monetary aspects of poverty – lack of security, opportunity and empowerment – that lower the quality of life for both men and women. While women and girls bear the largest and most direct costs of these inequalities, the costs cut broadly across society, ultimately hindering development and poverty reduction,” by Gender and Development Group -World Bank, from the report "Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals" (2003).
“When women thrive, all of society benefits, and succeeding generations are given a better start in life,” by Kofi Annan.
"Male and female citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, must be equally admitted to all honors, positions, and public employment according to their capacity and without other distinctions besides those of their virtues and talents,” by Olympe de Gouges.
“It would be ridiculous to talk of male and female atmospheres, male and female springs or rains, male and female sunshine....How much more ridiculous is it in relation to mind, to soul, to thought, where there is as undeniably no such thing as sex...” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
"Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind,” by Rigoberta Menchú Tum (1959-), Guatemalan social reformer, Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
“The education and empowerment of women throughout the world cannot fail to result in a more caring, tolerant, just and peaceful life for all,” by Aung San Suu Kyi (1945 - ), Daw Burmese-Myanmarese dissident and politician; Leader of National League for Democracy, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God," Matthew 5:9.
“This is no simple reform. It really is a revolution. Sex and race because they are easy and visible differences have been the primary ways of organizing human beings into superior and inferior groups and into the cheap labour in which this system still depends. We are talking about a society in which there will be no roles other than those chosen or those earned. We are really talking about humanism,” by Gloria Steinem.
“Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social standards never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences,” by Susan B. Anthony.
“Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's scepter, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison,” by Mary Wollstonecraft.
“Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge,” by Unknown Author.
“It's hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head,” by Sally Kempton, Esquire, 1970.
“Feminism directly confronts the idea that one person or set of people [has] the right to impose definitions of reality on others,” by Liz Stanley and Sue Wise.
“Men define intelligence, men define usefulness, men tell us what is beautiful, men even tell us what is womanly,” by Sally Kempton.
“The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, "It's a girl,” by Shirley Chisholm.
“Women are not inherently passive or peaceful. We're not inherently anything but human,” by Robin Morgan.
“I'm just a person trapped inside a woman's body,” by Elaine Boosler.
“Women's chains have been forged by men, not by anatomy,” by Estelle R. Ramey.
Jesus was such an opponent of traditions that had nothing to do with the scripture. “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions,” Mark 7:9.
“Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths,” by Lois Wyse.
“Whether women are better than men I cannot say - but I can say they are certainly no worse,” by Golda Meir.
“I am working for the time when unqualified blacks, browns, and women join the unqualified (white) men in running our government,” by Cissy Farenthold.
“(Feminism is) a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians,” by Pat Robertson.
Quotations on women's rights, gender equality, balanced feminism, Christian feminism, plain common sense human rights, etc. Quotes compiled by Eric Gondwe, author of Breaking Spiritual Strongholds and Healing the Wounded Spirit: Dealing with Root Causes.
Click here to Women’s rights & cognition: getting to the root of the problem
Click here for women’s rights and religions’ influences: for good and bad
Click here to contribute ideas & comments at women’s rights forums
Click here for solutions for women’s equal rights
Click here to Women's Rights World homepage