Here are quotes from celebrated women in 2013 that made us glow with feminist pride! It’s been a year of both triumphs and defeats for women worldwide, but one thing for certain is that there are lots of inspiring women who will never give up the fight.
I have a daughter and I have granddaughters and I will never vote to let a group of backward-looking ideologues cut women’s access to birth control. We have lived in that world, and we are not going back, not ever.
– Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a Senate speech on the eve of the government shutdown
Why do we have to take a backseat [to men]? … Let’s face it, money gives men the power to run the show. It gives men the power to define value. They define what’s sexy. And men define what’s feminine. It’s ridiculous.
– Beyoncé, in the HBO documentary Life is but a Dream
I’m rising on the floor today to humbly give voice to thousands of Texans who have been ignored.
– Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis, beginning her 13-hour filibuster against Gov. Rick Perry’s draconian anti-abortion bill
At what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over the male colleagues in the room?
– Texas State Sen. Leticia Van De Putte to the Texas State Senate president pro tem during the Wendy Davis filibuster, igniting the gallery into such rousing cheers that it was impossible for a vote to be taken before the midnight deadline.
When I was at Baylor, I wasn’t fully happy because I couldn’t be all the way out. It feels so good saying it: I am a strong, black lesbian woman.
– WNBA star Brittney Griner, upon becoming the first openly LGBT athlete to be endorsed by Nike
In Pakistan, when we were stopped from going to school, at that time I realized that education … is the power for women, and that’s why the terrorists are afraid of education.
– Malala Yousafzai, in an interview with John Stewart on The Daily Show
I wanted to focus on creating a … new 21st century woman, someone who is not defined by her skin color or hair texture but by what she does for the community.
– Singer/songwriter Janelle Monáe on the TODAY show
The fallacy in Hollywood is that if you’re making a ‘feminist’ story, the woman kicks ass and wins. That’s not feminist; that’s macho. A movie about a weak, vulnerable woman can be feminist if it shows a real person that we can empathize with.
– Natalie Portman in an interview with Elle U.K.
Of course [I’m a feminist]. And everyone I know is a feminist.
– Chelsea Clinton to ABC News reporter Lynn Sherr
It is really funny how even cool chicks are sort of like, ‘Our moms covered that feminism thing and now we’re living in a post-that world,’ when that just isn’t true.
– Lena Dunham, creator and star of Girls, to Claire Danes in Interview
It is fair to write about the change in your magazines. But what I want to see is the change on your covers … When the covers change, that’s when culture changes.
–Lady Gaga At Glamour‘s 2013 Women of the Year Awards where she gave a sharp critique of her own recent Glamour photos, which were photoshopped
I always get asked, ‘Where do you get your confidence?’ I think people are well meaning, but it’s pretty insulting. Because what it means to me is, ‘You, Mindy Kaling, have all the trappings of a very marginalized person. You’re not skinny, you’re not white, you’re a woman. Why on earth would you feel like you’re worth anything?
-Mindy Kaling in Parade magazine
We see this airbrushed perfect model … but you just have to look past it. … We [need to] stop treating each other like that, stop calling each other fat and stop with these unrealistic expectations for women. It’s disappointing that the media keeps it alive and fuels that fire.
– Jennifer Lawrence in a Q&A with Yahoo
Photo of Elizabeth Warren courtesy of U.S. Department of Labor, Beyoncé photo courtesy of flickrphotouser2009, Wendy Davis photo courtesy of Denise Flores, photo of Brittney Griner courtesy of Sportiqe, Malala Yousafzai photo courtesy of Wheelock College, Photo of Janelle Monáe courtesy of Kayley Luftig, Photo of Natalie Portman courtesy of moviegoodsposters, Chelsea Clinton photo courtesy of William Patrick Butler, photo of Lena Dunham courtesy of David Shankbone, photo of Lady Gaga courtesy of Amalia Adina, photo of Mindy Kaling courtesty of Wikimedia Commons photo of Jennifer Lawrence courtesy of Trent Wolf, all Flickr users via Creative Commons
