Melanne Verveer Quotes

A country cannot make progress while leaving half of its population behind.

No society can thrive when half its people are left behind.

We are justified in believing that the success of this movement for equality of the sexes means more progress toward equality of the races.

I look forward to a time, in the not so distant future, when we no longer look forward to 'firsts' as milestones women have yet to achieve, but we look back on them as historic events that continue to teach and inspire.

I don't want women and their families to be left out and left behind. We can fight for them. We will fight for them. They deserve better and I want to give them better.

There is simply no way our nation can progress if its women population is left behind.

While the overall goal of any society must be to educate all its members, at this stage in human history the greatest need is to educate women and girls. For over twenty years, studies have consistently documented that, of all possible investments, educating women and girls pays the highest overall dividends in terms of social development, the eradication of poverty and the advancement of community.

Three components - education, equality and empowerment - play an important and pivotal role in moving the country forward in every aspect.

Feminism is the best movement that's happened in the 21st century, and it benefits everyone.

I believe Native Americans, women, and all of us deserve representation, and that we all need to fight with everything we have to make it so.

Our Matru Shakti is our pride. Women empowerment is very crucial to our development.

I stand on the shoulders of giants that have gone before me, in terms of affording people like myself, women, the access to democracy, the vote, medical treatment, education, everything that I've been given. It's all been earned.

We call upon all communities to be tolerant, to reject prejudice based on caste, creed, sect, colour, religion or agenda to ensure freedom and equality for women so they can flourish. We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.

No industry or country can reach its full potential until women reach their full potential.

I don't think people should think of women's issues as auxiliary issues - they are central.

The world cannot afford to lose the talents of half it's people if we are to solve the many problems that beset us.

What I often say to people who are quick to say I’m not a feminist is if you think you’re not a feminist, give it all back.

Just as women's rights are human rights, women's progress is human progress.

For a people is only as great, as free, as lofty, as advanced as its women are free, noble and progressive.

Equality for women is progress for all.

...there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women.

We are worse off - all of us, including men and boys - if our society is not developing and empowering 100% of the resources of humanity, including women and girls.

The most poor and backward areas in the world are those in which women are subjugated and exploited. Improving the situation of the woman improves the family, the community, and by extension the whole country.

We've shown again and again, in every UN report on the status of women, that wherever women control their own bodies and have access to education, societies prosper. Men's fortunes go up, children's fortunes go up. This is not news - it's been proven repeatedly. Anywhere those things are threatened, we have to defend them.

Freedoms are not only the primary ends of development, they are also among its principal means.