Feminists

"To avoid any malicious instrumentalization that would disguise my patriotism, my values, and my deep convictions."

"Wearing a headscarf is not, in itself, a spiritual target. Those who do not “feel” the need to do so have the freedom to live their spirituality outside of this standard “garment.” And those who feel a need to follow this prescription and see it as a profound experience of intimacy and inwardness with the Creator also have the freedom to live their spirituality within the “garment” standard. In both cases, it is a matter of living one’s spirituality according to the same liberating approach. The headscarf is a part of the ethic and is, before all, a woman’s right. Women must have the right to choose to wear it or not to wear it, knowingly (an informed decision), because the right to wear it is inevitably linked to the right not to wear it."

"I did not want to express myself, from abroad, where I was participating in an academic seminar, on the reasons that led to my resignation."

"If you’re a rape survivor, pregnant as a result of that assault, you must pay for your own emergency medical care – something that is out of reach for most victims."

"It’s us who carry the pregnancy to term, us alone! We have to decide whether we want to get pregnant or not!"

"If you’re a woman, you may be denied contraception, simply because you don’t have your husband’s permission. And if you do manage to get contraception, you may be forced to use it in secret for fear of being accused of adultery by your partner or in-laws – just because you want to prevent an unwanted pregnancy."

"This is how legacy is made. To live a life that will outlive you."

"It is very easy to do what everybody else is doing, especially when it is a shortcut."

"It is only leaders who will create other leaders."

"I am waiting to be the me I am proud of and not the one I am scared of beinghttps://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3294807.Ellen_Hagan"

"There are low times and there are high times. Something as simple as feeling overwhelmed, can get you down."

"After the storm,what is left behind?"

"You have to find where you are needed.You cannot wait for other people.You would be waiting forever,” my mom adds.“Same with the island. It was us.It was the grandmothers. The mothers.It was you, Isa and Eliza, who started this organization.It was the women who saw the need and met it.Face forward. Unafraid. Who showed up. It was us."

"it is clear that as a leader, you have to think about how you are leading, how consistent you are, how inspiring you are, and how effective you are."

"I’m afraid for my life and the lives of my family."

"Have reached the height of self-determination: we no longer obey any authority, neither family nor religious. We know what we want and we make our own decisions."

"My body belongs to me, and is not the source of anyone’s honor."

"Our parents taught us rigor."

"I always finish my battles."

"I was marked by feminism even before I discovered its principles."

"Nothing they could do would be worse than what already happens here to women, the way women are forced to live every day. Ever since we are small they tell us to be calm, to behave well, to dress a certain way, everything to find a husband. We must also study to be able to marry, because young guys today want a woman who works."

"I will leave politics when I leave life."

"And to never think something is due for us, to always deserve what we wanted."

"I had a very strong mother and I learned from both my parents’ intellectual rigour, to have the courage of my convictions and to speak the truth."

"When you try to do things well, it’s not perceived as trying to be more rigorous, it’s perceived as being “bossy”"

"I felt the need to utilise my experience, the network and access I had gained in the US, but it had to be done from my own premises. I knew that I had the ability, as a young African woman, to sustain a music management company that would cater to international artists."

"I realised how few of us were able to evolve in the top strata of the industry."

"I came to understand that Mali has such a rich musical culture that is not being exported as well as it should. It felt natural that I should bring my know-how, the experience I’d gained around the world over a twenty-year period to Mali, to create a viable music production platform here."

"I knew that I had the ability, as a young African woman, to sustain a music management company that would cater to international artists."

"I was among a first generation of African women researchers who, after independence, have given a voice not only to African issues, but also to women. My encounters in the 1980s, and during the UN Women’s Decades with Women’s Studies and feminist critiques in North American universities as well as feminist organisations from the South have enriched my own analysis on various topics ranging from environmental issues to women’s leadership, from reproductive and sexual rights to the impact of religion and culture on women’s citizenship."

"( Emmanuel Macron)The President of the Republic has decided to entrust, as of today, the function of Personal Representative of the Head of State for the Francophonie to Ms. Leïla Slimani. According to the mission letter she received from the President of the Republic, Ms. Slimani will represent France on the Permanent Council of the Francophonie"

"I truly believe that art (and I use this term loosely here to refer to all forms of creative expression) provides an incredible opportunity for people to bring their full selves to their activism. We are not one-dimensional beings and thus we are affected and influenced by all of the things around us. I see art as an opportunity to take some of the very complex concepts and issues that we face on a daily basis and break them down in ways that are more palatable and easily digestible by young people."

"We must move in these spaces to encourage increased support to young women and girls not simply because it is ‘smart economics’ but because gender equality is a right"

"Amina Doherty, Changing Lives,https://wadadlipen.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/amina-doherty-changing-lives/"

"Solidarity as a strategy of resistance reminds us that we are the sum of many parts and, as bell hooks reminds us, “Solidarity is different than support.” Solidarity is about showing up and sticking with things for the long-run. It is about being committed and making bonds with each other in real and deeply personal ways. It is about standing at the intersections and bringing everyone along."

"We decided that in order to shift the power and to put resources in the hands of young feminists, we would need to turn the traditional funding model on its head. This meant that we would need to make space for feminist perspectives, methodologies, ideas and demands—as well as for our physical selves—in the philanthropic world."

"A feminist foreign policy must be radical, innovative and intersectional. It moves beyond the notion of “add women and stir” and seeks to be transformative. It challenges power by paying attention to and challenging the systems and institutions, such as governments and corporations, that benefit from the oppression of women. A feminist foreign policy is one that moves beyond limiting language, and centers women and all marginalized voices, including trans and intersex folks"

"In my own life, I tenaciously fight prejudices and inculcate feminist principles in my children. I draw my inspiration from the solidarity and company of other feminist sisters and from the key principles of honesty and modesty."

"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."

"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"

"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"

"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"

"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"

"You only have to travel around the world, especially in Africa for example or in the Maghreb, to see how much of an appetite there is for French."

"I shall speak about women’s writing about what it will do."

"Woman will return to the body which has been more than confiscated from her, which has been turned into the uncanny stranger on display."

"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."

"I never thought I was at home [in Algeria], nor that Algeria was my country, nor that I was French."

"My own writing was born in Algeria out of a lost country of the dead father and the foreign mother."