Barack Obama

[living at the White House] This isn’t about us. There’s so much history here that no one family can claim this space as their own.

You can’t deny women their basic rights and pretend it’s about your ‘religious freedom’. If you don’t like birth control, don’t use it. Religious freedom doesn’t mean that you can force others to live by your own beliefs.

[on Michelle] A dedicated mom, a good friend, and someone who’s not afraid to poke a little fun at herself from time to time

My first four jobs were minimum wage or close to it.

Don’t just get involved. Fight for your seat at the table. Better yet, fight for a seat at the head of the table.

I found this national debt, doubled, wrapped in a big bow waiting for me as I stepped into the Oval Office.

Women feel more guilt than men, not because of some weird chromosomal issue but because they have a history of being blamed for other people’s behavior. You get hit, you must have annoyed someone; you get raped, you must have excited someone; your kid is a junkie, you must have brought them up wrong.

I’m not a feminist. If men were going through the things women are going through today, I would be fighting for them with just as much passion. I believe in equality.

I feel like it’s by design that I’m raising boys, like there’s a reason. I don’t like my sons watching Snow White. It’s totally misogynistic

I was subscribing to this sick identity. … Stay in your place, be feminine, be a lady, don’t make too much noise.

[Feminism] means that you believe in the equality of the sexes in every way.

I advise young women: Negotiate hard and know your worth.

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.

You’’re a feminist if you go to a Jay-Z and Beyoncé concert, and you’’re NOT like, ‘mmm, I feel like Beyoncé should be making 23 percent less money than Jay-Z.’

It’s about being alive and feisty and not sitting down and shutting up. Even if people would like you to.

I wanted to take part in this campaign because it’s so easy to forget the many women who live their lives in fear because of domestic violence. Men have an important role to play in sending out the message that real men do not hurt or abuse their partners.

[on her mother] she’s a very smart, independent woman who was kind of coming into her own in the feminist movement of the 70s and 80s

I feel there are certain people who are systematically ripping (feminism) down because of their lack of regard and their ignorance about what the women before us had to go through.

I am a Woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal Woman, that’s me.

I believe in gender equality. Being a feminist is for both women and men. I am a feminist.

I’m usually good about my temper, but all these men trying to control women’s bodies are really beginning to piss me off.