Life

11 Feminist Quotes To Celebrate Women's Rights

by Jessica Learish

Whether Comic-Con, SantaCon, or one of the seemingly endless stream of political conferences is more your speed, there is one conference I think we can all agree was incredibly important for women across the United States. On July 19, 168 years ago, the first Seneca Falls Convention kicked off as the first women's rights convention. These quotes from famous feminists throughout history prove that, though the fight for gender equality is an ongoing one, more and more people are willing to identify as feminists and support upholding reproductive rights, championing pay equity, and putting an end to rape culture.

Famous first-wave feminists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott attended the Seneca Falls Convention and focused heavily on what a woman's role in society should be. The meeting also played host to a contentious debate as to whether or not the convention should advocate in favor of giving women the right to vote. Lucretia Mott was against the inclusion of the suffragette resolution, but sole African-American attendee Frederick Douglass argued on behalf of the cause, and a woman's right to vote became a centerpiece of the feminist movement.

These feminist quotes from famous faces will make you just as proud to be a feminist as the delightfully simple text of the 19th Amendment: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

1. "I am a feminist and we all should be feminists, because feminism is another word for equality." — Malala Yousafzai

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Don't you love her? Malala is #goals.

2. "If you stand for equality, you're a feminist. I'm sorry to tell you." — Emma Watson

Emma Watson, telling it how it is, as usual.

3. "I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to be who I really am. I'm going to figure out what that is." — Emma Watson

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And this.

4. "When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch." — Bette Davis

Because behind those famous eyes, she has nuanced, educated thoughts and opinions.

5. "I hope that my presence on your screen and my face in magazines may lead you, young girls, on a beautiful journey. That you will feel the validation of your external beauty, but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside." — Lupita Nyong'o

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Lupita is beautiful all the way through.

6. "I believe that women are so capable of destroying girl on girl hate." — Lilly Singh

Because we have to stand together as women to achieve true gender equality.

7. "I just love bossy women. I could be around them all day. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody's passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn't mind leading." — Amy Poehler

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Because knowing what you want and how to express that is a good thing.

8. "Women will have achieved true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation." — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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If only we could all be as wise as RBG.

9. "There is no doubt in my mind that without the involvement of women in the economy, in politics, in peace-making, in every aspect of society, you can't realize [a country's] full potential." — Hillary Clinton

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And the truth bombs keep on coming.

10. "Our job is not to make young women grateful. It is to make them ungrateful so they keep going. Gratitude never radicalized anybody." — Susan B. Anthony

From the woman who helped start it all.

11. "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle." — Gloria Steinem

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In other words, we're a pretty self-sufficient bunch.

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