"We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls: ‘You can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you will threaten the man.'...Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices, always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now, marriage can be a good thing, it can be a source of joy and love and mutual support, but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same?"

- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
TEDxEuston: We Should All Be Feminists

“[W]e need to reclaim the word 'feminism.' We need the word 'feminism' back real bad. When statistics come in saying that only 29% of American women would describe themselves as feminist—and only 42% of British women—I used to think, What do you think feminism IS, ladies? What part of 'liberation for women' is not for you? Is it freedom to vote? The right not to be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal pay? 'Vogue' by Madonna? Jeans? Did all that good shit GET ON YOUR NERVES? Or were you just DRUNK AT THE TIME OF SURVEY?"

- Caitlin Moran
How to Be a Woman

"And so I hope that my presence on your screens and in the magazines may lead you, young girl, on a similar journey. That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside. There is no shade in that beauty."

- Lupita Nyong’o
"Black Women in Hollywood" Acceptance Speech