March 8 is International Women's Day and offers an opportunity reflect on the long and powerful history of feminist collective action. Our friends at International Women's Day have put together some highlights.
Their website is a treasure trove of feminist history, from the late 1700s to the suffragette movements of the early 1900s to our fights today for reproductive rights and protection of our trans sisters. Learning feminist history is a great reminder that women have been fighting for our rights, around the globe, for hundreds of years, as a testament to our strength and perseverance.
- "I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own."
- "The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist, nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights."
- “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."
- "Fight for the things you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you."
- “What’s the greatest lesson a woman should learn? That since day one, she’s already had everything she needs within herself. It’s the world that convinced her she did not.”
- “Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.”
- “The women of today are the thoughts of their mothers and grandmothers, embodied and made alive. They are active, capable, determined and bound to win. They have one-thousand generations back of them…millions of women dead and gone are speaking through us today.”
- “Organize, agitate, educate, must be our war cry.”
- “You never completely have your rights, one person, until you all have your rights.”
- “I am a feminist. I’ve been female for a long time now. It’d be stupid to not be on my own side.”
This contest is open to all SEIU-West members and is not affiliated with any social media platform. Winners will be selected by random draw and contacted via email. Keep an eye on our social media, where we will share each of these quotes along with who said it, on International Women's Day.