Simone de Beauvoir, Colette, Simone Veil, Coco Chanel, Michelle Obama… All these strong, determined and resolutely feminist women have left their mark on the collective memory. Even today, their words resonate with us and are an endless source of inspiration. As March 8, International Women’s Rights Day, approaches , discover some of the most inspiring feminist quotes…
March 8, the most memorable feminist quotes:
1. “A free woman is the exact opposite of a frivolous woman.”Simone de Beauvoir
2. “Feminism has never killed anyone. Machismo kills every day.” Benoîte Groult
3. “No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive and contemptuous, than a man who is insecure about his masculinity.” Simone de Beauvoir
4. “Feminism is not about hating men, but about justice for women .” Bell Hooks
5. “We must liberate half the human race, women, so that they can help us liberate the other half.” Emmeline Pankhurst
6. “I consider myself a feminist… Isn’t that the word for someone who fights for women’s rights?” The Dalai Lama
7. “A woman who is not afraid of men frightens them.” Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir, AFP
8. “The admission of women to perfect equality would be the surest mark of civilization, and it would double the intellectual forces of the human race.” Stendhal.
9. “Men and women should both have the right to be sensitive. Men and women should both have the right to be strong. It’s time to view gender as a spectrum rather than two opposing ideals.” Emma Watson
10. “I have yet to hear men ask for advice on how to balance work and family life.” Gloria Steinem
11. “Simple, strong, loving art and ideals, brave and free too, the woman of tomorrow will want neither to dominate nor be dominated.” Louise Michel
“A free woman is the exact opposite of a frivolous woman.”Simone de Beauvoir
11. “One is not born a woman: one becomes one.” Simone de Beauvoir
12. “What a mistake for a woman to wait for a man to build the world she wants, instead of creating it herself.” Anais Nin.
13. “Calling women the weaker sex is a defamation, it is man’s injustice towards woman. If non-violence is the law of humanity, the future belongs to women.” Gandhi
14. “Don’t clear the table unless the men get up to do it too.” Coco Chanel.
“I have never been able to define feminism. All I know is that people call me a feminist whenever my behavior no longer allows me to be mistaken for a doormat.” Rebecca West
Rebecca West
15. “Women will truly be equal to men on the day when an incompetent woman is appointed to an important position.” Françoise Giroud
16. “Women are capable of doing everything men do except pee standing up against a wall.” Colette
17. “Women, it is you who hold the salvation of the world in your hands.” Leo Tolstoy
18. “There are no limits to what we can achieve as women.” Michelle Obama.
19. “It is through work that women have largely closed the gap between themselves and men; it is work alone that can guarantee them real freedom.” Simone de Beauvoir
“Don’t clear the table unless the men get up to do it too.” Coco Chanel
Portrait of Coco Chanel taken in 1944 in Paris. AFP
20. “I’m not ashamed to dress like a woman. Because it’s not a shame to be a woman.” Iggy Pop.
21. “Since women can be mothers, it has been deduced that they must be mothers… And find happiness only in motherhood.” Elisabeth Badinter.
22. “The principle of marriage is obscene because it transforms into rights and duties an exchange that should be based on spontaneous impulse: it gives bodies, by condemning them to be grasped in their generality, an instrumental and therefore degrading character.” Simone de Beauvoir
23. “My demand as a woman is that my difference be taken into account, that I not be forced to adapt to the male model.” Simone Veil.
24. “Because the ideal of the white woman is to be attractive but not a slut, well married but not effaced, working but not too successful, so as not to overshadow her man, slim but not neurotic about food, remaining forever young without being disfigured by cosmetic surgeons, a fulfilled mother but not overwhelmed by diapers and schoolwork, a good housekeeper but not a traditional maid, cultured but less so than a man. This happy white woman that we are constantly held up as an example, the one we should strive to resemble, except that she seems to get bored easily over nothing. In any case, I have never met her, anywhere. I don’t think she exists.” Virginie Despentes
“Whatever she does, a woman must do it twice as well as a man to be thought of as highly. Fortunately, that’s not difficult.” Charlotte Whitton
25. “There are no limits to what we can achieve as women. ” Michelle Obama
26. “Woman, wake up, the alarm bell of reason is ringing throughout the universe; recognize your rights.” Olympe de Gouges
27. “For a man not to like women is an attitude. For a woman not to like men is a pathology.” Virginie Despentes.
28. “Whatever she does, a woman must do it twice as well as a man to be thought of as highly. Fortunately, that’s not difficult.” Charlotte Whitton
29. “Want to be a man? I’m better than that.” Virginie Despentes
30. “I’ve never been able to define feminism. All I know is that people call me a feminist whenever my behavior no longer allows me to be mistaken for a doormat.” Rebecca West