Mary Cassatt Quotes

I want women to be the subject, not the object.

… in an age when human rights are preached loudly from the rooftops, women had to be accepted as equals and allowed to think and act in their own interests and by their own efforts.

I think I would have died if there hadn't been the women's movement.

I'm an independent woman and a feminist.

We think of a feminist as someone a woman becomes in reaction to personal indignities and social injustices. But the truth is, such inequities only awaken her to the feminist she has always fundamentally been - that is, a person who understands that her first responsibility is to her own humanity. That's why, for my money, the first known use of the word 'feminist' is still the best, appearing in an 1895 book review: a woman who 'has in her the capacity of fighting her way back to independence.

Surely the freedom of women must mean more to us than the freedom of pimps.

Even if I am simply one more woman laying one more brick in the foundation of a new and more humane world, it is enough to make me rise eagerly from my bed each morning and face the challenge of breaking the historic silence that has held women captive for so long.

I never expect men to give us liberty. No, women, we are not worth it until we take it.

My idea of feminism is self-determination, and it's very open-ended: every woman has the right to become herself, and do whatever she needs to do.

Women's issues have always been a part of my life. My goal is to bring the word 'feminism' back into the zeitgeist and reframe it.

I've always played strong women who are doing their own thing.

I fought all my life for women to make their own choices, in their personal and professional lives. I made mine.

Women today have the keys to the doors which have been barred against them and they will open them without asking consent.

I think if we get freedom for women, then they are probably going to do a lot of things that I wish they wouldn't do. But it seems to me that isn't our business to say what they should do with it. It is our business to see that they get it.

I've always been on the side of fully emancipated women with independent minds.

I believe in women having a voice, being empowered, speaking up, and having ideas.

Women are no longer just born to be married. We are here to compete with everyone and make a place for ourselves under the sun on our own.

If you're fighting to limit other women's rights, then you can't really call yourself a feminist.

Since the beginning of time, women have had to fight for what they deserve. I'm proud to be a part of a wave of strong women on TV!

The idea of being a feminist-so many women have come to this idea of it being anti-male and not able to connect with the opposite sex-but what feminism is about is equality and human rights. For me that is just an essential part of my identity. I hope [Girls] contributes to a continuance of feminist dialogue

Until the day arrives when all women decide that our rights are not negotiable, our future choices will not be secure.

As women began to challenge their own internalized views of a woman's proper place, their desire and demand for equal status and free choice began to grow exponentially.

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

I consider myself to be a feminist. My hope and goal is that I'm going to raise two very strong independent women that won't need anybody, unless they chose that. I want them to be mistresses of their own destiny. But I don't judge people on the other end of that spectrum either.

From the first moment a woman dared to speak that hope - dared to believe that the American Dream was meant for her too - ordinary women have taken on extraordinary odds to give their daughters the chance for something else; for a life more equal, more free, and filled with more opportunity than they ever had. In so many ways we have succeeded, but in so many areas we have much work left to do.