We may be living in 2017, but gender equality is still not what it should be. The gender pay gap is still alive and well, women are still silenced when they try to make a point, and some men have made it quite clear that, to them, women are still nothing more than objects. In other words, we may have come a long way, but the fight for equality still continues.
Since March is officially Women’s History Month, it’s time to look back and congratulate ourselves, as a gender, on how far we’ve come in regards to equality, and come together to analyze and educate ourselves on how we can further improve gender relations and gender equality around the world. To reach this equality for not just our generation, but the generations to come, and the generations whose efforts got us to this point, we can't just sit back and not do anything.
If you’re looking for inspiration so you can get out there and make a difference, then look no further. Here are 17 quotes about women’s equality, just in time for Women’s History Month.
1. "Women belong in all places where decisions are being made... It shouldn't be that women are the exception." — Ruth Bader Ginsburg
2. “He is a gentleman, and I am a gentleman's daughter. So far we are equal.” — Jane Austen
3. “It’s probably not just by chance that I’m alone. It would be very hard for a man to live with me, unless he’s terribly strong. And if he’s stronger than I, I’m the one who can’t live with him. … I’m neither smart nor stupid, but I don’t think I’m a run-of-the-mill person. I’ve been in business without being a businesswoman, I’ve loved without being a woman made only for love. The two men I’ve loved, I think, will remember me, on earth or in heaven, because men always remember a woman who caused them concern and uneasiness. I’ve done my best, in regard to people and to life, without precepts, but with a taste for justice.” — Coco Chanel
4. “It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it. Millions are condemned to a stiller doom than mine, and millions are in silent revolt against their lot. Nobody knows how many rebellions besides political rebellions ferment in the masses of life which people earth. Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, to absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.” — Charlotte Brontë
5. “We need to understand that there is no formula for how women should lead their lives." — Hillary Clinton
6. "We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead." — Beyoncé
7. "I raise up my voice — not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard...we cannot succeed when half of us are held back." — Malala Yousafzai
8. “Equality is not a concept. It's not something we should be striving for. It's a necessity. Equality is like gravity. We need it to stand on this earth as men and women, and the misogyny that is in every culture is not a true part of the human condition. It is life out of balance, and that imbalance is sucking something out of the soul of every man and woman who's confronted with it. We need equality. Kinda now.” — Joss Whedon
9. "For I conclude that the enemy is not lipstick, but guilt itself; we deserve lipstick, if we want it, AND free speech; we deserve to be sexual AND serious – or whatever we please. We are entitled to wear cowboy boots to our own revolution." — Naomi Wolf
10. "I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman." — Anaïs Nin
11. "A gender-equal society would be one where the word 'gender' does not exist: where everyone can be themselves." — Gloria Steinem
12. “Women hold up half the sky.” — Mao Zedong
13. "Culture does not make people. People make culture. If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.” — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
14. "When you said in your speech, 'If not now, when? If not me, who?', I decided there’s no way and there’s nothing wrong by calling yourself a feminist. So I’m a feminist and we all should be a feminist because feminism is another word for equality." — Malala Yousafzai
15.“ Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong…it is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideas.” ― Emma Watson
16. "Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings." — Cheris Kramarae
17. "Human rights are women's rights, and women's rights are human rights." — Hillary Clinton
How's that for some inspiration? Now get out there and fight the good fight!
