Alicia Keys

My first instinct is great pride for all of us as women who are finding our voices.

In the 80s, when I was a little girl, this whole Midtown area was a different world. These are the streets that I walked, and learned my lessons on, and heard the music, and witnessed disenfranchised people, and people who just had dreams and hopes. Every pimp, every prostitute, every drug dealer, every Broadway dreamer wishing they could be a writer, or a musician, or an actor.

Once I became a mother I knew that I was strong, but not ready to do what I’m doing now

You’ve got to have a good spirit on the inside. That’s what’s really going to make you look like you’re ready to rock the world.

One thing a lot of people don’t know about me is that I’m a driver… I love driving.. I’m driven.

Kindness, love, strength and determination personified!! Madiba reminds me that everything is possible!

Being a strong woman is very important to me. But doing it all on my own is not.

I’m definitely a feminist. I’m f*cking disgusted by the way women are still treated.

And to all of the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.

It’s pretty clear that if men were having babies we’d have different policies.

“From birth to age 18, a girl needs good parents, from 18 to 35 she needs good looks, from 35 to 55 she needs a good personality, and from 55 on she needs cash.

I’ve come into loving and understanding the feminine side of me. How powerful a woman and her femininity is… how strong, how graceful, how gorgeous, how beautiful. I love getting to know the many sides of myself. I embrace them all.

I do not believe that we have a right to tell other people, women, that they can’t control their bodies.

Being a feminist is being equal to what a man do

What sometimes is missing for young girls is that so early in our lives we’re shushed. And not just directly shushed. Sometimes we’re treated a little too preciously. They treat us like a doll. They don’t treat us like real beings, equal partners. I was loved early by my father, but I was never so precious that he didn’t think I could be there at the table.

I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist. I think that would be, maybe, going too far.

Woman is the dominant sex. Men have to do all sorts of stuff to prove they are worthy of a woman’s attention.

Have you watched Snow White lately? I get real funky about the classics; I don’t like (my sons) watching it. It’s totally sexist, misogynistic – she’s cleaning for seven dwarfs. There’s nothing wrong with a woman who chooses to stay at home with her family, it’s a hard-ass job, but it’s the way it’s spoken about.

The argument that ‘boys will be boys’ actually carries the profoundly anti-male implication that we should expect bad behaviors from boys and men. The assumption is that they are somehow not capable of acting appropriately, or treating girls and women with respect.

The woman who doesn’t require validation from anyone is the most feared individual on the planet.

So early in our lives we are shushed. And not just directly shushed but sometimes in our lives we’re treated too preciously. We may have a father that loves us and treats us like a doll. They don’t treat us like real beings and equal partners.