Women & justice

In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but in its effects. (Senator William Fulbright, 1905- 1995)

…The part of the promise of the women's movement that I hope to see fulfilled in the twenty-first century is the liberation of men…the philosophy that was truly the linchpin of feminism…the deep and enduring belief that people be permitted to define themselves, not just by gender but by ability, inclination, and character…to make the world a better place for everyone, male and female alike. (Anna Quindlen, “Off With Their Ties,” Loud and Clear)

As a black person, I am no stranger to race prejudice. But the truth is that in the political world I have been far oftener discriminated against because I am a woman than because I am black. (U.S. Representative Shirley Chisholm)

Hope has two daughters, anger and courage. They are both lovely. (Saint Augustine)

If civilization is to advance at all in the future, it must be through the help of women, women freed of their political shackles, women with full power to work their will in society. (Emmeline Pankhurst, 1857 – 1928)

If we’re here tonight and there’s no trouble tomorrow, we haven’t done our job. (Gloria Steinem)

It is important for women to not just be in office, but in power. Women must be in power before we can be said to be equal. (Marjorie Mowlam, member of British Parliament)

It's important to remember that feminism is no longer a group of organizations or leaders. It's the expectations that parents have for their daughters, and their sons, too. It's the way we talk about and treat one another. It's who makes the money and who makes the compromises and who makes the dinner. It's a state of mind. It's the way we live now. (Anna Quindlen, “And Now, Babe Feminism,” Loud and Clear)

My only hope is that, one day soon, women – who have all earned their right to their opinions – instead of being called opinionated, will be called smart and well-informed, just like men. (Theresa Heinz Kerry)

The law cannot do the major part of winning equality for women. Women must do it themselves. They must become revolutionaries. (Shirley Chisholm)

The sentimental cult of domestic virtues is the cheapest method at society’s disposal of keeping women quiet without seriously considering their grievances or improving their position. (Alva Myrdal and Viola Klein)

The truth is that we got stuck on a plateau here, somewhere between change, which is good, and transformation, which is excellent. There has been some transformation, thanks to the women's movement…But transformation has come slowly, and too often American society has remained like those men's schools that admitted women…men's schools with women…Where the standards of reasonable women are honored, the culture has improved. Where they are not, not…Given the complexity and richness of the lives many women have now cobbled out of past imperatives and present opportunities, real transformation will come when men live more like us. (Anna Quindlen, “The Reasonable Woman Standard,” Loud and Clear)

There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible to fly on one wing. (Prabhat Ranjan Sakar)

To think that all in me of which my father would have felt proper pride had I been a man, is deeply mortifying to him because I am a woman. (Elizabeth Cady Stanton, died in 1902)

When a man gets up to speak, people listen then look. When a woman gets up, people look; then, if they like what they see, they listen. (Pauline Frederick, died in 1938)

When I first looked at this topic – why women matter and how women matter – I thought to myself, is this a question men would ask? I think not. They would ask, why does NATO matter, why does the UN matter, but they wouldn't ask why they matter. (Laura Liswood, cofounder, Council of Women World Leaders, Harvard University)

Why then do women need power? Because power is freedom. Power allows us to accomplish what is important to us, in the manner that we best see fit. It separates the doers from the dreamers. (Patti Mancini, 1989)

Women are the only exploited group in history who have been idealized into powerlessness. (Erica Jong, b. 1942)

Women constitute half the world's population, perform nearly two-thirds of its work hours, receive one-tenth of the world's income and own less than one-hundredth of the world's property. (UN Report, 1980)

As long as women don't have control of their own sexual and reproductive lives, we're all heading toward possible disaster…. Today, everyone concerned with a more just, peaceful, and healthy future has a similar investment in the world's largest and most critical human rights struggle, the struggle for gender equality. (Michelle Goldberg, The Means of Reporduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World)

The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.
“Forty prison guards wielding clubs and with their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic…'
“Affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women…When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat, and poured liquid into her until she vomited.
“Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on November 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.” (Source unknown – found on Internet)