Quotes About Empowerment

Pain is unavoidable, but suffering is optional.

It bothers them that instead of taking on the role of abandoned lover, I have become a happy wife. They relish seeing strong women like you and me humiliated. They cannot forgive us that we triumphed where so many others fail...Courage is a virtue appreciated in a male but considered a defect in our gender. Bold women are a threat to a world that is out of balance, in favor of men. That is why they work so hard to mistreat and destroy us.

our demons lose their power when we pull them out of the depths where they hide and look them in the face in broad daylight.

Every time I asked a question, that magnificent teacher, instead of giving the answer, showed me how to find it. She taught me to organise my thoughts, to do research, to read and listen, to seek alternatives, to resolve old problems with new solutions, to argue logically. Above all, she taught me not to believe anything blindly, to doubt, and to question even what seemed irrefutably true, such as man's superiority over woman, or one race or social class over another.

I have the idea that we grandmothers are meant to play the part of protective witches; we must watch over younger women, children, community and also, why not? this mistreated planet, the victim of such unrelenting desecration.

I stopped examining myself in the mirror to compare myself to the perfect beauties of movies and magazines; I decided I was beautiful-- for the simple reason that I wanted to be. And then never gave the matter a second thought. -Eva Luna

Exert some independence; you're not a little girl. You can't let anyone else decide things for you. You have to take care of yourself in this world, she said. I've never forgotten those words.

I strike the ground with the soles of my feet and life rises up my legs, spreads up my skeleton, takes possession of me, drives away distress and sweetens my memory. The world trembles.

La realidad es que cada uno es responsable de su propia vida. Nacemos con ciertas cartas del naipe, y con ellas jugamos nuestro juego; a algunos les tocan malas cartas y lo pierden todo, pero otros juegan magistralmente con esas mismas cartas y triunfan.

Los hombres hacen lo que pueden, las mujeres hacen lo que los hombres no pueden.

Prométeme que siempre te vas a querer a ti misma como te quiero yo, Maya

She went by the name of Belisa Crepusculario, not because she'd been born with it or baptized it, but because she herself had searched until she found the poetry of 'beauty' and 'twilight' and cloaked herself in it. She made her living selling words.

Entonces dejé de examinarme en el espejo para compararme con las mujeres perfectas del cine y las revistas y decidí que era bella por la simple razón de que tenía ganas de serlo.

Words are free, she used to say, and she appropriated them; they were all hers. She sowed in my mind the idea that reality is not only what we see on the surface; it has a magical dimension as well and, if we so desire, it is legitimate to enhance it and color it to make our journey through life less trying.

If for any reason you don't like the word feminist, look for another word. The name is not important as long as the work gets done for yourself and for your sisters in the rest of the world who need it.

The girl you were died; the potion of death was what all of us women swallow sooner or later. Have you noticed how at puberty the Amazon-like energy we are born with fades and we turn into doubt-filled creatures with clipped wings? The woman left trapped in the silo is also you, a prisoner of the restrictions of adult life. The female condition is a disgrace, Isabel, it's like having rocks tied to your ankles so you can't fly.

Feminism, like the ocean, is fluid, powerful, deep, and encompasses the infinite complexity of life; it moves in waves, currents, tides, and sometimes in storms. Like the ocean, feminism never stays quiet.

No hay feminismo sin independencia económica. Eso lo vi claramente en mi infancia con la situación de mi madre. Las mujeres necesitamos disponer de ingresos propios y manejarlos, para eso se requiere educación, capacitación y un ambiente laboral y familiar adecuado.

I can promise you that women working together – linked, informed and educated – can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet.

The rural women taught me that courage is contagious and that there's strength in numbers; what you can't do on your own can be achieved together, the more the better.

A muchas hijas nos ha tocado vivir la vida que nuestras madres no pudieron vivir.

Esto sirve para tranquilizarnos la conciencia, hija —explicaba a Blanca—. Pero no ayuda a los pobres. No necesitan caridad, sino justicia.

We have to consider violence against women for what it really is: the greatest crisis that faces humanity.

El feminismo no me alcanzó para repartir las tareas domésticas, en verdad esa idea no me pasó por la cabeza, creía que la liberación consistía en salir al mundo y echarme encima los deberes masculinos, pero no pensé que también se trataba de delegar parte de mi carga. El