International Women's Day 2021: 18 Inspiring Women Empowerment Quotes

March 8 marks International Women's Day. It is one of the most important days of the year to celebrate women's achievements and raise awareness about gender equality.

The first International Women's Day gathering was held back in 1911 and has since become a "global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women," according to its website. It also states that the day does not belong to any specific country, organization corporation or women's net worth but "belongs to all groups collectively everywhere."

For International Women's Day 2021, check out some inspiring quotes about female empowerment:

1. “A girl should be two things: Who and what she wants.” – Coco Chanel

2. “The most important thing one woman can do for another is expand her sense of actual possibilities.” – Adrienne Rich

3. “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” – Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

4. “If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.” – Margaret Thatcher

5. “Do not live someone else's life and someone else's idea of what womanhood is. Womanhood is you.” – Viola Davis

6. “I do not wish women to have power over men but over themselves.” – Mary Shelley

7. “Women have always been the strong ones of the world. The men are always seeking from women a little pillow to put their heads down on. They are always longing for the mother who held them as infants.” – Coco Chanel

8. “I just love bossy women. I could be around them all day. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody’s passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn’t mind learning.” – Amy Poehler

9. “I am a woman with thoughts and questions and s--t to say. I say if I’m beautiful. I say if I’m strong. You will not determine my story⁠—I will.” – Amy Schumer

10. “A gentleman opposed to their enfranchisement once said to me, women have never produced anything of any value to the world. I told him the chief product of the women had been the men and left it to him to decide whether the product was of any value.” – Reverend Anna Howard Shaw, M.D.

11. “I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We've been taught that silence would save us, but it won't.” –Audre Lorde

12. “Of course I am not worried about intimidating men. The type of man who will be intimidated by me is exactly the type of man I have no interest in.” –Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

13. “Because she said what she thought and because she smiled only when she felt like smiling, and not constantly and vacuously, America's cheapest caricature was cast on her, the angry black woman.” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

14. “What is compromising? Compromise for what? Compromising for what reason? A man comes into my life and I have to compromise? For what? For what? A relationship is a relationship that has to be earned! Not to compromise for.” – Eartha Kitt

15. “I must quit marrying men who feel inferior to me. Somewhere there must be a man who could be my husband and not feel inferior. I need a superior-inferior man.” – Hedy Lamarr

16. “Women will be hidden no more. We will not remain hidden figures. We have names. … It was woman that gave you Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was woman that gave you Malcolm X. And according to the Bible, it was a woman that gave you Jesus. Don't you ever forget it.” – Janelle Monae

17. “A strong woman understands that the gifts such as logic, decisiveness and strength are just as feminine as intuition and emotional connection. She values and uses all of her gifts.” – Nancy Rathburn

18. “You don't have to be pretty. You don't owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don't owe it to your mother, you don't owe it to your children, you don't owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked 'female.'” – Erin McKean