First recognized in 1973 by U.S. Congress at the effortless campaigning of Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY), August 26 commemorates the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment, which finally granted women the right to vote. Now, so many years later, we’re still celebrating the women in our lives on this very special day, all while acknowledging the work that still needs to be done in order to achieve true equality. Ring in Women’s Equality Day with 100 of the best quotes for the occasion.
100 Women’s Equality Day Quotes
- “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
- “My own definition is a feminist is a man or a woman who says, yes, there’s a problem with gender as it is today and we must fix it, we must do better. All of us, women and men, must do better.” —Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- “The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes.” —Bella Abzug
- “Making it through the ceiling to the other side was simply a matter of running on a path created by every other woman’s footprints."—Shonda Rhimes
- “When girls are educated, their countries become stronger and more prosperous."―Michelle Obama
- “To be free is not to have the power to do anything you like; it is to be able to surpass the given toward an open future.” —Simone de Beauvoir
- “We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons… but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters.” —Gloria Steinem
- “How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!” —Maya Angelou
- “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” —Alice Walker 10. “We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.” ―Malala Yousafzai
- “Some men are so indoctrinated that they sincerely believe that other than cooking and cleaning the only thing that a woman can do better than them is being a woman.” —Mokokoma Mokhonoana 12. “In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.” —Sheryl Sandberg
- “You could make a case that, along with the technological revolution, the most provocative, upending destabilizing, thrilling change in the course of human history is that we’re finally in it… We’re here now, women are in the world, and we will not be bullied."—Meryl Streep
- “Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do or achieve. Do what you want to do and be who you want to be. Just encourage and include each other, don’t ostracize the gender in front of you.” —Emma Watson
- “You should have dreams, you should have visions. Never let any obstacle stop you.” –Ruth Gruber
- “Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong, it’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.” –G.D. Anderson 17. “A woman with a voice is, by definition, a strong woman.” –Melinda Gates
- “To all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful, and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.” –Hillary Clinton
- “A woman is human. She is not better, wiser, stronger, more intelligent, more creative, or more responsible than a man. Likewise, she is never less. Equality is a given. A woman is human.” –Vera Nazarian,The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
- “A huge part of being a feminist is giving other women the freedom to make choices you might not necessarily make yourself.” –Lena Dunham
- “Let woman out of the home, let man into it, should be the aim of education. The home needs man, and the world outside needs woman.” –Pearl S. Buck
- “The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving.” —Gloria Steinem
- “Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands - two equally harmful disciplines.” —Simone de Beauvoir
- “I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.” —Maya Angelou
- “Of course I am not worried about intimidating men. The type of man who will be intimidated by me is exactly the type of man I have no interest in."—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- “There’s something so special about a woman who dominates in a man’s world. It takes a certain grace, strength, intelligence, fearlessness, and the nerve to never take no for an answer."—Rihanna
- “When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.” —Malala Yousafzai
- “Now, we are becoming the men we wanted to marry."—Gloria Steinem
- “I always wanted to be a femme fatale. Even when I was a young girl, I never really wanted to be a girl. I wanted to be a woman.” —Diane von Furstenberg
- “When there are no ceilings, the sky’s the limit.” —Hillary Clinton
- “It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.” —Madeleine Albright
- “Women are leaders everywhere you look—from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women, and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes.” —Nancy Pelosi
- “We must raise both the ceiling and the floor.” —Sheryl Sandberg
- “Women will only have true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.” —Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- “A gender-equal society would be one where the word ‘gender’ does not exist: where everyone can be themselves.” —Gloria Steinem
- “I’m tough, ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay."—Madonna
- “No woman should be told she can’t make decisions about her own body. When women’s rights are under attack, we fight back."—Kamala Harris
- “Justice is about making sure that being polite is not the same thing as being quiet. In fact, often times, the most righteous thing you can do is shake the table.” —Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
- “I am a woman with thoughts and questions and shit to say. I say if I’m beautiful. I say if I’m strong. You will not determine my story—I will.” —Amy Shumer
- “There cannot be true democracy unless women’s voices are heard. There cannot be true democracy unless women are given the opportunity to take responsibility for their own lives. There cannot be true democracy unless all citizens are able to participate fully in the lives of their country.” —Hilary Clinton
- “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made… It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.” ―Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- “Women will be hidden no more. We will not remain hidden figures. We have names. … It was woman that gave you Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was woman that gave you Malcolm X. And according to the Bible, it was a woman that gave you Jesus. Don’t you ever forget it."―Janelle Monáe
- “I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves.” —Mary Shelley
- “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” —Arundhati Roy
- “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” ―Audre Lorde
- “Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe you must become its soul.” —Correta Scott King
- “I think transwomen, and transpeople in general, show everyone that you can define what it means to be a man or woman on your own terms. A lot of what feminism is about is moving outside of roles and moving outside of expectations of who and what you’re supposed to be to live a more authentic life.” —Laverne Cox
- “There is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind."―Virginia Woolf
- “A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.” ―Gloria Steinem 50.“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” —Margaret Thatcher
- “No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” ―Alice Walker
- “Maybe it just boils down to: I’m a woman who’s really into her career, so I’m obsessed with the craft of my work. … There’s a romance in that for me.” ―Mitski
- “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.” ―Jane Austen
- “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” —Audre Lorde
- “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish."—Michelle Obama
- “I’m afraid I’m not sufficiently inhibited about the things that other women are inhibited about for me.” —Mary McCarthy
- “Women are always saying, ‘We can do anything that men can do.’ But men should be saying, ‘We can do anything that women can do.’” —Gloria Steinem
- “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
- “Of all the nasty outcomes predicted for women’s liberation … none was more alarming than the suggestion that women would eventually become just like men."—Barbara Ehrenreich
- “They cannot stand that a refugee, a black woman, an immigrant, a Muslim, shows up in Congress thinking she’s equal to them. But I say to them, ‘How else did you expect me to show up?’” —Ilhan Omar
- “More and more women are realizing that only collective strength and action will allow us to be free to fight for the kind of society that meets basic human needs."—Roxanne Dunbar
- “If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman."—Margaret Thatcher
- “Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.” —Kofi Annan
- “We reject the notion that the work that brings in money is more valuable. The ability to earn more money is a privilege which must not be compounded by enabling the larger earner to buy out of his/her duties and put the burden either on the partner who earns less or on another person hired from outside.” —Alix Kates Shulman
- “Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less."—Susan B. Anthony
- “Black women have had to develop a larger vision of our society than perhaps any other group. They have had to understand white men, white women, and black men. And they have had to understand themselves. When black women win victories, it is a boost for virtually every segment of society."—Angela Davis
- “You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation."—Brigham Young
- “I feel now that the time is come when even a woman or a child who can speak a word for freedom and humanity is bound to speak.” —Harriet Beecher Stowe
- “The more I have spoken about feminism the more I have realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.” —Emma Watson 70. “Empowering women isn’t just the right thing to do–it’s the smart thing to do… When women succeed, nations are more safe, more secure, and more prosperous.” —Barack Obama
- “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."—Rebecca West
- “I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself.” —Simone de Beauvoir
- “A revolutionary woman can’t have no reactionary man.” —Assata Shakur
- “When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” —Audre Lorde
- “Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.” —Cheris Kramarae
- “No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor.” —Betty Friedan 77. “We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man. Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.” —Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- “It’s not my responsibility to be beautiful. I’m not alive for that purpose. My existence is not about how desirable you find me.” —Warsan Shire
- “I hate men who are afraid of women’s strength.” —Anaïs Nin, Henry and June: From “A Journal of Love”
- “Women have discovered that they cannot rely on men’s chivalry to give them justice.” —Helen Keller
- “Women’s freedom is the sign of social freedom.” —Rosa Luxemburg
- “Men—I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue too.” —Emma Watson
- “Words have power. TV has power. My pen has power.” —Shonda Rimes
- “I am a woman / Phenomenally / Phenomenal woman / That’s me.” —Maya Angelou
- “If she can annihilate her self altogether and still manage to seem contented, then she has achieved the additionally heroic feat of holding on to her femininity—that elusive quality women are always in danger of losing whenever their selves threaten to burst through all the constraints.” —Dalma Heyn
- “We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead.” —Beyoncé
- “Women’s speech—and the fact that we are now listening to it—has enraged men in a way that makes them determined to reëstablish the longstanding hierarchy of power in America. … And yet this awful truth will not stop women from speaking, and I do not think that it will turn a movement into a moment. It has become clear that there is not nearly enough left to lose.” —Jia Tolentino
- “When a woman is assaulted, one of the first questions people ask is, Did you say no? This question assumes that the answer was always yes, and that it is her job to revoke the agreement. To defuse the bomb she was given. But why are they allowed to touch us until we physically fight them off? Why is the door open until we have to slam it shut?” —Chanel Miller
- “Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another."—Toni Morrison
- “We have to organize. We have to build up coalitions across all of these people who are considered ’the other.’ If we all banded together and built coalitions that were truly intersectional, we would be in power. I believe in the power of the people.” —Janet Mock
- “To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation—is that good for the world?"—Christopher Hitchens
- “She is free in her wildness, she is a wanderess, a drop of free water. She knows nothing of borders and cares nothing for rules or customs. ‘Time’ for her isn’t something to fight against. Her life flows clean, with passion, like fresh water.” —Roman Payne
- “By propagating women’s nature as non-violent they are discouraging women from becoming fighters in the struggle for their own liberation and that of society.” —Anuradha Ghandy
- “We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored.” —Sheryl Sandberg
- “I have sometimes thought that a woman’s nature is like a great house full of rooms: there is the hall, through which everyone passes in going in and out; the drawingroom, where one receives formal visits; the sitting-room, where the members of the family come and go as they list; but beyond that, far beyond, are other rooms, the handles of whose doors perhaps are never turned; no one knows the way to them, no one knows whither they lead; and in the innermost room, the holy of holies, the soul sits alone and waits for a footstep that never comes.” —Edith Wharton
- “Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women."—Maya Angelou
- “Life is not a competition between men and women. It is a collaboration.” —David Alejandro Fearnhead
- “Whether I am meant to or not, I challenge assumptions about women. I do make some people uncomfortable, which I’m well aware of, but that’s just part of coming to grips with what I believe is still one of the most important pieces of unfinished business in human history—empowering women to be able to stand up for themselves.” —Hillary Clinton
- “You don’t have to be pretty. You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked ‘female.’” —Erin McKean
- “I knew then and I know now, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it.” —Claudette Colvin Next up, inspiring women to celebrate this Women’s Equality Day.
