Equality
Size: 59 x 79 inches
Technique: Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes
Material: 100% cotton fabrics, wool/polyester batting
Artist Statement: In 2014 I dreamed this image in hot pink. My daughter Nadia was standing in a field looking directly at the viewer. She was wearing a business suit and she had a baby on her hip. As I approached her I could see that there were hundreds of quotes in the beautiful sky behind her.
I dye-painted the top in the winter of 2015 and started to quilt it, then in June 2015 I stopped because I was stuck. In July I decided to add the crows because crows mean change, are mystical, and are considered feminine. In September 2015 I had to stop working on Equality to work on another project and couldn't return to it until May 2018.
The United States changed considerably between 2014 when I dreamed Equality and 2018. In 2014, the hot pink color didn't make sense to me but it did make sense in 2018 with the women's movement and the #MeToo movement.
When I first dreamed this image, I thought it was about my daughter but as I was making it I realized that it was really about me, and my daughter, and my granddaughter, and my mother, my sister, my nieces, and all women who have fought for Equality for Women.
There are approximately 400 quotes about women in this piece. (Please excuse me if I haven’t given proper attribution to the authors of the quotes. I have tried my best). See below.
“Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.” - Kofi Annan
“When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch.” -Bette Davis
“I am eternally grateful to the women before me who fought for my rights.”
“A successful woman is one who can build a firm foundation from the bricks others have thrown at her.”
“We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons...but few have the courage to raise sons more like our daughters.” -Gloria Steinem
“So long as women are not free, the people are not free.”
“There can be no human rights without women’s rights.” -Hillary Clinton
“We can do it!”
“Equal work deserves equal pay.”
“I am stronger than fear.” -Malala Yousafzai
“This is our moment.”
“Men of quality respect woman’s equality.”
“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.” - Chimamanchi Ngozi Adichie
“Birth control is a human right.”
“Together we stand, divided we fall.”
“People won’t listen to you or take you seriously unless you are an old white man.”
“I intend to raise my son to respect and admire women.”
“The extension of women’s rights is the basic principle of all social progress.” - Charles Fourier
“The impact of educating girls has vast ripple effects on children, families, communities, and eventually countries.”
“As women, we must stand up for ourselves. We must stand up for each other. we must stand up for justice for all.” - Michelle Obama
“When men are oppressed, it’s a tragedy. When women are oppressed, it’s tradition.” -Letty Cottin Pogrebin
“Say no to child marriage. Say no to dowery.”
“I see, so if I don’t have sex with you I’m a prude bitch, if I use the pill I’m a slut, if I get pregnant I’m an idiot, and if I choose abortion I’m Satan. Yay.”
“There will never be a new world order until women are part of it.” -Alice Paul, 1885-1977
“Stop the war on women.”
“Why won’t you listen to women?”
“77% of anti-abortion leaders are men. 100% of them will never be pregnant."
“I stand for women’s rights.”
“Stop violence against all women.”
“Protect women’s health.”
“Trust women.”
“Respect the sex which gave you birth."
"Women’s rights - LOL.”
“Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.” - Hillary Clinton
“Women are half the world’s population, working two-thirds of the world’s working hours, receiving 10% of the world’s income, owning less than 1% of the world’s property.”
“Reproductive rights are civil rights.”
“Give women equal rights and entire nations are more stable and secure. Deny women equal rights and the instability of nations is almost certain.” - Hilary Clinton
“Two-thirds of the illiterate population are women.”
“Defend women’s rights.”
“Women may be the only group that grows more radical with age.” - Gloria Steinem
“I don’t mind if I have to sit on the floor. All I want is education. And I’m afraid of no one.” - Malala Yousafzai
“You know you are doing something right when even people you don’t even know hate you.”
“Wherever we look, and especially if we look through the lens of poverty - we see that women still bear the greatest burdens.” - Ban Ki-moor
“I want women to control their own health choices just like I want my daughters to have the same opportunities as your sons.” - President Barak Obama
“Making abortion illegal doesn’t stop abortions. It stops safe abortions.”
“Women are not the problem, they’re the solution.” - Sheryl Wudunn
“Corporations are people, Women, not so much.”
“A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.” - Coco Chanel
“Ask yourself: Why do we talk about American men using the language of “freedom” and the women in the language of “choice”?”
“Bills introduced to regulate women’s bodies in 2013 alone: 624 (93 approved). Bills regulating men’s bodies since the dawn of time: 0”
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
“You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.” - Brigham Young
“Here's all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid.” - George Carlin
“What would men be without women? Scarce, sir...mighty scarce.” - Mark Twain
“In politics, If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.” - Margaret Thatcher
“Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this. Men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.” - Robert Jordan
“Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.” - Margaret Thatcher
’‘Make It Happen”
“Globally, about one in three women will be beaten or raped during their lifetime.”
“Thirty-eight per cent of all murders of women worldwide are committed by a woman's intimate partner.”
“An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked into slavery each year; 80% are girls.’”
“Globally only 24% of senior management roles are now filled by women.”
“We raise girls to be perfect and boys to be brave."
“It's critical that girls are safe in school.”
“Educating our girls is crucial for the eradication of global poverty.”
“An educated girl will have healthier children, earn a greater income and is more likely to send her own children to school.”
“When societies don't value girls and their futures, entire communities suffer and generations are mired in poverty.”
“A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and me.” - Gloria Steinem
“Those of us who embrace the feminine know its strength.” -Betsy Cornwell
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
“In societies where men are truly confident of their own worth, women are not merely tolerated but valued.” - Aung San Suu Kyi
“No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body.” - Margaret Sanger
“You don’t have to be anti-man to be pro-woman.” - Jane Galvin Lewis
“Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths.” - Lois Wyse
“A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.” - Gloria Steinem
“The policing of women’s bodies must end.” - Billie Jean King
“We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly.” - Margaret Atwood
“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” - Nora Ephron
“I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves.” - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
“A woman with a voice is, by definition, a strong woman.” – Melinda Gates
“Real men don’t define themselves against women.”
“Men are never entitled to women’s bodies.”
“Telling an angry woman to calm down works about as well as baptizing a cat.”
“A pretty face will always grow old. A nice body will always change with age. However... a good woman will always be a good woman.”
“Fight back for women’s health!”
“Boys laugh at what they put girls through but they won’t be laughing when they’re wiping tears off their daughters face for the same reason.” - Will Smith
“One in four women will experience domestic violence.”
“Women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the word of God.” - Jimmy Carter
"No self respecting woman should wish or work for the success of a party that ignores her sex.” - Susan B. Anthony
“The policing of women’s bodies must end.” - Billie Jean King
“Girls Are Strong”
“Screw Sexists”
“I am your worst fear, I am your best fantasy.”
“We have the right to vote (for the man of our choice).”
“We are the 51% minority.”
“ERA NOW.”
“Rules for dating my daughter. 1. I don’t make the rules. 2. You don’t make the rules. 3. She makes the rules. 4. Her body, her rules.”
“Strong women don’t have attitudes. We have standards.”
“Dear Nurses, We know you work your asses off to do the best for your patients. Don’t let them get to you. Love, The Teachers.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do, you’re not my dog.”
“Girl, unless he wears a diaper, you can’t change him.”
“Never assume that loud is strong and quiet is weak.”
“My coach said I run like a girl. And I said if he ran a little faster, he could too.” - Mia Hamm
“You survived what you thought would kill you. Now straighten your crown and move forward like the queen you are.”
“Every time a man does a woman wrong ... God pushes his hairline back an inch.”
“Mother Nature apologizes for the late arrival of spring. Father Time was driving and refused to stop and ask directions.”
“A wise girl knows her limits. A smart girl knows she has none.” - Marilyn Monroe
“She leaves a little sparkle wherever she goes.”
“The war on women is real.”
“Trying to be a man is a waste of a woman.”
“Honor thy Mother ... Put her in the constitution.”
“Clean up politics. Elect women!”
“Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.”
“Women Power”
“It’s a man’s world unless women vote.”
“Keep your laws off my body.”
“The best man for the job may be a woman.”
“You are a force to be reckoned with. Remember that.”
“We are the granddaughters of the witches you couldn’t burn.”
“The circles of women around us weave invisible nets of love that carry us when we are weak and sing with us when we are strong.” - Sark
“Be the woman who fixes another woman’s crown without telling the world it was crooked.”
“My favorite game is to act like I can’t understand something simple when a man is explaining it to see how dumb he thinks I am.”
“Mansplaining should be called correctile dysfunction.”
“Apparently men find it condescending and obnoxious when you tell them what mansplaining is.”
“Femininity is NOT negative!”
“Dear Strong Women, You are not intimidating. They are intimidated. There is a difference.”
“Act like a lady, think like a boss.”
“Femininity is the ultimate form of sophistication.”
“The masculine DOES while the feminine IS.”
“Debate is masculine, conversation is feminine.”
“She needed a hero so that’s what she became.”
“What’s wrong with being confident?”
“I am positive that flexibility is a feminine characteristic.” - Emma Bonine
“History is her story too.”
“Being a woman is a terribly difficult task since it consists principally in dealing with men.”
“A quiet woman is at peace and about to change everything.”
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me?" - Ayn Rand
“We have to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves.” - Beyoncé
“No, you can’t deny women their basic rights and pretend it’s about your “religious freedom”.” - Barak Obama
“Women can’t be silenced.”
“When men are oppressed, it’s a tragedy. When women are oppressed, it’s a tradition.”
“There will never be a new world order until women are part of it." - Alice Paul
“I stand for women’s rights!”
“For most of history “Anonymous” was a woman.” - Virginia Woolf
“If a woman does not have the right to choose, she is not free. PERIOD.”
“You know, when a man is raped you never hear about what he was wearing.” - George Takei
"There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women." - Kofi Annan
“We expect women to work like they don’t have children and to raise children as if they don’t work.”
“If you want anything done, ask a woman.”
“I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.” - Madonna
“#Me Too”
“Educating our girls is crucial for the eradication of global poverty.”
“When societies don’t value girls and their futures, entire communities suffer and generations are mired in poverty.”
“Gender-based violence kills and disables as many women, aged 15-44, as cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war combined.”
“Two-thirds of the children denied school are girls.”
“Women hold just 19% of the world’s parliamentary seats.”
“One woman dies every 90 seconds in pregnancy or childbirth.”
“I am not afraid . . . I was born to do this.” - Joan of Arc
“Here’s to strong women, may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them.”
“We cannot succeed when half of us are held back.” - Malala Yousafzai
“I raise up my voice - not so I can shout but so those without a voice can be heard.” - Malala Yousafzai
“Men and women should own the world as a mutual possession.” - Pearl S. Buck
“Life is not a competition between men and women. It is a collaboration.”
“We lived in the blank white pages at the edge of print.” - Margaret Atwood
“Silencing women silences justice.”
“Feminism sounds great when advocated by men.”
“In this kind of hostile culture, trusting women is a radical act.”
“Real men are advocates for women’s rights.”
“I am a feminist. I’ve been female for a long time now. I’d be stupid not to be on my own side.” - Maya Angelou
“Achieving gender equality requires the engagement of women and men, and girls and boys. It is everyone’s responsibility.” - Ban Ki-Moon
“I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves.”
“Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.” - Charlotte Whitton
“I demanded more rights for women because I know what women had to put up with.” - Evita Peron
“It’s NEVER overreacting to ask for what you want and need.”
“Empowering women isn’t just the right thing to do - it’s the smart thing to do.” -Barak Obama
“You don’t have to be anti-man to be pro-woman.”
“Little girls with dreams become women with vision.”
“Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.”
“God gave women intuition and femininity. Used properly, the combination easily jumbles the brain of any man I’ve ever met.” - Farah Fawcett
“Behind every successful woman is a tribe of other successful women who have her back.”
“Don’t let someone dim your light simply because it is shining in their eyes.”
“Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.”
“She believed she could, so she did.”
“Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world.”
- Hillary Clinton
“Of course women don’t work as hard as men . . . They get it right the first time.”
“I am a strong woman because a strong woman raised me.”
“Women have an unique power of being able to look at the world’s problems and discover solutions that transform lives and make the world a better place.” - Dr. Ayanna Howard
“Strong women don’t use their strength to knock others down, but to help others carry their burdens.”
“Women are never stronger than when they arm themselves with their weaknesses.”
“Be the kind of woman that makes other women want to up their game.”
“Some women fear the fire, some women become it.”
“Be a woman to watch.”
“One in three women worldwide will experience sexual violence.”
“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” - Estee Lauder
“Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes.” - Jim Carrey
“A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise women refuses to be anyone’s victim.” - Maya Angelou
“When a woman is talking to you, listen to what she says with her eyes.”
- Victor Hugo
“Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands for all women.”
“You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” - Oprah Winfrey
“The most dangerous animal in the world is a silent smiling woman.”
“A woman should be two things: who and what she wants.”
"A woman with a voice is by definition, a strong woman.”
“A jealous woman does better research than the FBI.”
“Make yourself a priority.”
“Strong women get things done.”
“Be You. The world will adjust.”
“Strong women scare weak men.”
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
“I don’t go by the rule book. I lead from the heart, not the head.”
- Princess Diana
“In the future there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.”
Sheryl Sandberg
“Girls should never be afraid to be smart." - Emma Watson
“Never dull your shine for somebody else.” - Tyra Banks
“Tell me I can’t and I will show you I can.”
“We are all Wonder women!”
”The measure of any society is how it treats its women and girls.”
- Michelle Obama
“A real woman knows that a man’s respect and loyalty are not an upgrade in a relationship but a Requirement.”
“Some leaders are born women.”
“Don’t look for yourself outside yourself.”
“Be a voice for choice.”
“Women are not chicks.”
“Women are more than sex objects.”
“Women Power”
“Women should be obscene and not heard.”
“I will not be any man’s half-time, down-time, spare-time, or sometimes. So don’t waste my time.”
“Girls put up with bullshit. Women move on.”
“A strong man can handle a strong woman. A weak man will say she has attitude.”
“Don’t play hard to get, play hard to forget.”
“What you allow is what will continue.”
“I’m aware that I’m a rare breed of woman.”
“A man is not a financial plan.”
“Being single is smarter than being in the wrong relationship.”
“Call for change.”
“Equality”
“Equal Pay”
“No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body.”
“We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.”
- Malala Yousafzai
“Give a woman a job and she grows balls.”
“History is her story too.”
“The rise of women does not mean the fall of men.”
“A woman is like a tea bag, you never know until she gets in hot water.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt
“Feminism is the radical idea that women’s safety is more important than men’s feelings.”
“The future is female.”
“We are all in this together.”
“Freedom cannot be achieved unless the women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression.” - Nelson Mandela
“Don’t call me bossy. If I were a boy, you’d call me a leader.”
“You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.” - Rosalynn Carter
“Never accept anything less than you deserve. Remember, you teach people how to treat you.”
“Sexism is a social disease.”
“Girls Are Strong”