Women S Rights Activists

"They’re denying a lot of the pain that women and girls are going through, and just calling it Western influence."

"I am proud to join UN Women in their fight for the rights of women and girls all over Africa. I want to see the day when no parent makes a decision that will change and limit their daughters’ lives. The girls of Africa and worldwide need to know that their future is bigger than they imagine."

"These issues are personal to me, they’re part of my life history. We won’t have equality until girls can grow up with control over their own bodies and futures."

"I am a coloured woman and proud of it."

"I remember feeling silenced and alone,the pain was almost too much to bear."

"There is also language. So much happens in English. I think we need to put more intention in language and support translation and engaging each other and reaching out across the language divide. I do understand that sometimes one’s local struggles are so big that it prevents one from being able to reach out beyond one’s local space. However, I also think it is inspiring to get a sense of how different people have done different things. Heritage-wise, we come from so many different places and we have migrated from so many different areas. It is important we learn from each other across the oceans of Black existence. We are linked"

"Some of the things we see now that are a part of the methodology of feminist care, African women were already doing. They also imagined care in ways that were accessible because a lot of well-being discourse is really elite and it requires access to services that most people don’t have or cannot afford. It is important to look at those models of collective care, which are really about community and tapping into resources that are available to us"

"We came to the realization that what traumatizes us is not an individual experience of exposure to one violent act: it is living in environments that deny you your basic dignity."

"A radical approach is a willingness to stay learning because you really have to be humble. You really have to commit to going to the root. You also have to stand up and be counted when it matters"

"Her life was a brilliant beacon, dedicated to the cause of the women and children of Barbados."

"She is remembered as a pioneer and "trailblazer" in the struggle for women's rights in the country."

"It is interesting because African women are at the heart of radical movement building, particularly African feminists who have been core allies in all the struggles that shaped the past couple of decades. African women were central to liberation movements but it is about who writes those histories and who is interested in those stories. Some African women were spectacularly erased because they were vocal and public. There is erasure because of neoliberalism and economic status because women are the most marginalized in these structures. African women are actually the majority food producers of the continent but it is in smallholder farming and it is not protected. The reason why African women are not centered is because of patriarchy and it is a preference for thinking or presuming that men are the shapers of history. When things are documented, they are not documented in the way that tells that story. I spent a lot of time in African feminist space trying to uncover those histories. I have been quite obsessed in regards to documentation and getting those names out there."

"I also think about how important it is for people who have children and are around children for us to expand on our radical politics with our children because that is what framed us. If we want that legacy of radical politics to continue, it is really vital that we keep working on it with the next generation. It is important if we are going to build this movement. We have to start with the babies"

"As a feminist I understand the necessity and beauty of women’s struggle for autonomy and choice, and the need to transform society for the benefit of all people. And I am re-born as a feminist every time I see a woman or girl resist social limitations and master the art of spreading her wings."

"It is because of this reality that for every Amílcar Cabral and Thomas Sankara, you also have a Freedom Nyamubaya. There have always been women who have really shaped ideology and who were also brave in shaping their praxis. It is really about patriarchal memory."

"Sorabji had an ambivalent attitude to British rule: she was wary of transplanting western values to India, but she opposed Mahatma Gandhi’s campaign for Indian self-rule."

"As Vera Brittain explained, Sorabji had chosen: the wrong direction at an important moment in [Indian] history, and [had thus been] repudiated by the currents of her time … which tends to withhold from her the status that is her due."

"Dear Oxford—no other place can ever be to me what thou art!"

"I am to read law: the desire of my heart is accomplished."

"…next to home there is no place like Somerville"

"A leader should timeously make room for the younger generation to take over the reins, in order to introduce new approaches and alternative ways of addressing challenges of national importance."

"I trust that we will see the day when the services of NGOs will be utilized by ministries to a large extent, on a continuous basis."

"I shall always carry WAD in my heart"

"I am a very well-known person, so I don’t know if they wanted to kidnap me and then ask for ransom for my release, or rob my guests and me."

"She was magnificent in her womanhood—a dark Brunhilda, handsome, large, and free; full of joy and laughter, frank and fearless, never biting her tongue; and yet one who was never still, never dull, always going and doing and dreaming; always alive, always generous, loving and kind."

"It is surprising to know the large number of women who absolutely refuse to go to the polls. Not satisfied with remaining at home, they seem to take pleasure in talking disparagingly about the women who are interested."

"Men should not have everything. They certainly do not accomplish everything."

"Our brothers who are legislators are not ready at all to give us the smallest jump seat."

"...by hosting the regional course, the University of hopes to gain renewed influence in the sub-region."

"As current and past events show us, this is an extremely apt point. Let us not forget Germany's international human rights campaign ad which depicted a woman in a blue burqa posed next to blue trash bags. This picture and its role in advocating for women’s rights is discussed by Maya Dusenbery in Feministing, an online platform run by and for young feminists dedicated to viewing the world through a feminist lens."

"The picture couldn’t be any more clear; women wearing veils, hijabs or burqas are in need of the West’s superior morals, education and protection. Dusenbery aptly terms this campaign and the message behind it as ‘paternalistic bullshit.’ Campaigns such as this do the opposite of help women, they only serve to burden them with another obstacle to overcome, imposed by Westerners who refuse to listen with respect."

"Instead of women of colour not being recognised within the movement at all, they’re now being ‘othered’ to such an extent that the white Western feminist is cast in the role of educated saviour, and women of colour cast in the roles of uneducated victims in desperate need of feminism as the white woman sees it."

"Be persistent! Be professional! You don’t have to be aggressive; be persistent, and people will know who you are, where you stand, and what you can’t compromise on. Walk the talk!"

"Build on the strength of women!"

"A fresh struggle to overcome new manifestations of patriarchy is constantly beginning; and it seems a matter of perpetuity."

"Rural women inspire me. They are the passion of my life and I will do everything and anything for their empowerment. Their knowledge and expertise are crying for a receptive ear, for powerful questions that will unearth and challenge their wisdom."

"The change has been tremendous. People now know what the gender agenda is, they might fear it in some places, but they now know."

"I call myself a feminist because I am staunch believer in justice for women and the validity of women’s perspectives."

"If anything were to happen to me today, I have no worries because I know these young women will carry this struggle until we get it right."

"You have to keep your eyes sharp all the time and be very analytical. When you see something coming, you have to ask what it is and how it will affect women."

"Describes sexual liberation as ‘served on a plate’"

"“You are probably right, but if we try and fail, we can at least tell our daughters we tried but could not change the conditions, now it is your turn to try. But if we do nothing and just watch the rights that our mothers and grandmothers fought to secure for us wash away at the whims of fundamentalist and corrupt politicians, what do we have to tell them?”"

"Marieme Helie Lucas respond to the question "How was the FIS in Algeria able to hijack the youth revolt and gain so much popularity in their conflict with the authoritarian Algerian government"?"

"The Left appears to be hindered by Eurocentrism, focusing more on their own struggles with government policies towards migrant minorities in Europe. They applied their analysis of this situation to events in our countries, neglecting the vital resistance forces against the Muslim Far Right. In prioritizing victims of the state, they created a hierarchy of victims, overlooking those targeted by non-state actors. By failing to address the crimes committed by Muslim fundamentalist non-state groups against women, they also established a hierarchy of rights, where women's rights are placed last, after religious, cultural, and minority rights."

"Secularism is the legal and administrative principle that separates the state from organized religions. It was established during the French Revolution and later formalized in the 1905-1906 laws on separation. Article 1 of these laws guarantees individuals the freedom to believe and practice their faith. Article 2 states that the Secular Republic neither recognizes, engages with, nor funds religions, their representatives, or institutions. In a secular Republic, all citizens are equal and have the same rights under the law."

"Reactionary forces have always sought to govern in the name of God. Secularism, defined as the separation of religion and state, is the most effective way to prevent them from directly wielding political power. Historically, progressive religious interpreters and liberation theologians have been marginalized and defeated within their own religious traditions."

"I realized failing is still better than doing nothing to regain one’s rights and human dignity."

"Even within the conversation about lack of representation, disability discrimination does not get the attention that it requires, leaving disabled people out of the decision-making processes that directly impact their lives."

"We could welcome people with disabilities into working industries previously considered “not suited” for their abilities, and consequently also increase the visibility and inclusion of disabled people, reducing stigma and misunderstanding as well."

"leaders and those in charge of hiring to reach out to organisations such as Norges Handikapforbund to access the many resources they have on offer, such as information and training, as well as recommendations for how to seek out excellent candidates living with disabilities that might be interested in the roles you offer."