It's graduation season, which means people are reciting quotes at an unparalleled frequency. If you're anything like me, you've heard a lot of people quoting from Dr. Seuss's Oh, The Places You'll Go by now. But you may not yet have heard any feminist quotes for new college grads, and those should definitely be part of your celebration, regardless of your gender.
Feminism is of course for people of all ages, but it'll probably come up especially around this time, as you're thinking about your future and entering the workforce. Women encounter unique challenges and opportunities in college, and they'll come across new ones in the workplace (or in grad school, or wherever they choose to go). This is a time for women to become aware of their rights at work and their right to dream big about their futures. So, here are a few quotes that might inspire you to do that.
1. "You all have opportunities and skills and education that so many folks who came before you never could have dreamed of. So just imagine the kind of impact that you're going to make. Imagine how you can inspire those around you to reach higher and complete their own education."
2. “No matter what your background, that degree, and the experience of being here, is a privilege. Don’t let it blind you too often. Sometimes you will need to push it aside in order to see clearly.”
— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Author
3. “What I want to talk about today is what you do next. About the things you can do to overcome adversity no matter when it hits you or how it hits. The easy days ahead of you will be easy. It’s the hard days — the days that challenge you to your very core — that will determine who you are.”
— Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook
4. "We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better."
5. "Make no mistake, Class of 2016 — you’ve got plenty of work to do. But as complicated and sometimes intractable as these challenges may seem, the truth is that your generation is better positioned than any before you to meet those challenges, to flip the script.
— Barack Obama, President of the United States
Images: Fotolia
