Great Women's Speeches

Speeches by great women to empower and inspire

Anna Russell, Camila Pinheiro

• Publisher: White Lion Publishing
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781781318287
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

This is an edited and resized version of So Here I Am: Speeches by great women to empower and inspire. Discover the inspiring voices that have changed our world, and started a new conversation. Great Women's Speeches is essential reading for pioneering women everywhere.From Emmeline Pankhurst's 'Freedom or Death' speech and Marie Curie's trailblazing Nobel lecture, to Michelle Obama speaking on parenthood in politics and Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza's stirring ode to black women, the words collected here are empowering, engaging and entirely unapologetic. With powerful illustrations from Camila Pinheiro, Anna Russell's rousing anthology is dedicated to anyone who dares to ask for more. The women: Elizabeth I; Fanny Wright; Maria Stewart; Angelina Grimké; Sojourner Truth; Victoria Woodhull; Sarah Winnemucca; Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Mary Church Terrell; Ida B. Wells; CountessMarkievicz; Marie Curie; Emmeline Pankhurst; Nellie McClung; Jutta Bojsen-Møller; Emma Goldman; Nancy Astor; Margaret Sanger; Virginia Woolf; Huda Sha'arawi; Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti; Eva Perón; Helen Keller; Eleanor Roosevelt; Shirley Chisholm; Ruth Bader Ginsburg; Sylvia Rivera; Simone Veil; Indira Gandhi; Margaret Thatcher; Ursula K. Le Guin; Barbara McClintock; Corazon C. Aquino; Naomi Wolf; Severn Cullis-Suzuki; Wilma Mankiller; Toni Morrison; Hillary Clinton; Wangari Maathai; J.K. Rowling; Angela Merkel; Sheryl Sandberg; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; Asmaa Mahfouz; Manal al-Sharif; Julia Gillard; Malala Yousafzai; Emma Watson; Jane Goodall; Michelle Obama; Gloria Steinem; Beatrice Fihn; Alicia Garza; Maya Lin.

More Women to Inspire

The difficulty in compiling an anthology such as this is selecting those speeches to include and – necessarily – those to be left out. History is packed full of examples of inspiring women speaking up for the causes they believe in, from empresses and queens defending their right to rule in a patriarchal society to pioneering scientists and inventors working on the fringes of the establishment. And continuing right up to the present day are brave new voices – such as eighteen-year-old Emma González, the American activist who spoke passionately about the need for gun control in the wake of the February 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida – who strikingly illustrate how impactful our voices can be.

The majority of speeches in this collection are post-1830s. This decade was the point at which the fight for women’s rights in the Western world ushered women on to the public stage – a sphere in which previously they had been largely absent. Further back, a key difficulty for the researcher of women’s speeches is the scarcity of accurate recordings of such events. There are many women – philosophers, leaders, writers, activists – who we know spoke in public, yet their exact words have been lost to the passage of time. While this precluded their inclusion in this collection, these women are a powerful example of the strong lineage of eloquent women who we can look back on to inspire us today.

The speeches in So Here I Am are intended to inspire and empower, and it is my hope that they will leave you wanting much more. Look up some of the women below: read their stories, listen to their speeches on YouTube, follow them on Twitter, and be energized by these impassioned orators.

Sappho, Greek Poet, c. 610–c. 570 BC

Greek poet Sappho was famous for her lyric poetry, most of which survives only in fragments. Much of her life is a mystery, but her prolific writing, which celebrated the lives, thoughts and passions of women, was greatly admired in antiquity, as she is to this day. The modern use of the term ‘lesbian’ to refer to erotic love between women is an allusion to Sappho (who lived on the Greek island Lesbos), as it is commonly thought (though still debated) by modern scholars that her poetry was homoerotic.

Hortensia, Roman Heroine, 1st century BC

Best known for her oration, delivered in the Roman Forum, opposing plans to tax the property of 1,400 wealthy women. The tax was to raise money for the war against murdered dictator Julius Caesar’s assassins; Hortensia argued against such a levy on those who had no part in instigating or sustaining the conflict.

Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni, fl. AD 60

Following the annexation of the Iceni kingdom on the death of her husband, this ancient queen of a British tribe raised a rebellion against Roman rule, razing modern-day Colchester, St Albans and London to the ground.

Boudicca

Hypatia, Mathematician and Astronomer, c. 355–415

A leading mathematician, astronomer and philosopher, Hypatia lived at a particularly turbulent time in Alexandria’s history. She is recorded as having been a popular teacher, attracting large audiences to hear her lectures on philosophy.

Hypatia

Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Consort of France and England, c. 1122–1204

Perhaps the most influential woman in medieval Europe, Eleanor of Aquitaine was an important patron of the arts as well as playing an active role in government. Eleanor’s fifteen-year marriage to Louis VII of France was annulled in 1152 and two-months later she married Henry of Anjou. In 1154 Henry became Henry II of England; Eleanor was instrumental in helping to manage her husband’s empire, travelling between England and France. In 1173 she sided with two of her sons in a plot against Henry and was imprisoned for her role in the attempted uprising. On his father’s death in 1189, Richard I ordered the release of his mother who once again became a central figure in politics, acting as Regent in 1190 during Richard’s crusade to the Holy Land.

St. Joan of Arc, French Heroine, c. 1412–31

A French peasant girl, Joan of Arc showed formidable courage when she persuaded the dauphin Charles (later Charles VII) to trust her to lead his troops against the English during the Hundred Years’ War. Joan believed herself to be under divine guidance, and won important victories for the French, most notably at Patay, and in securing the coronation of Charles. She was captured in 1430, tried for heresy and executed.

St. Joan of Arc

Olympe de Gouges, Writer and Social Reformer, 1748–93

A prolific social activist and writer, de Gouges campaigned on issues including divorce, maternity hospitals and the rights of unmarried mothers. In 1791 she published a pamphlet entitled ‘Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne’ (‘Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the [Female] Citizen’). A supporter of the Girondins during the French Revolution, she was executed following their fall in 1793.

Mary Wollstonecraft, Writer and Feminist, 1759–97

Now recognized as a trailblazer in the women’s r...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Elizabeth I, On the Spanish Armada, 1588
• Fanny Wright, Of Free Inquiry, Considered as a Means for Obtaining Just Knowledge, 1829
• Maria Stewart, Farewell Address, 1833
• Angelina Grimké, Anti-Slavery Speech, 1838
• Sojourner Truth, Ain’t I A Woman?, 1851
• Victoria Woodhull, The Principles of Social Freedom, 1871
• Sarah Winnemucca, Indian Affairs Statement, 1884
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Solitude of Self, 1892
• Mary Church Terrell, What It Means to be Colored in the Capital of the United States, 1906
• Ida B. Wells, This Awful Slaughter, 1909
• Countess Markievicz, Women, Ideals and the Nation, 1909
• Marie Curie, Nobel Lecture: Radium and the New Concepts in Chemistry, 1911
• Emmeline Pankhurst, Freedom or Death, 1913
• Nellie McClung, Should Men Vote?, 1914
• Jutta Bojsen-Møller, Victory for Votes, 1915
• Emma Goldman, Address to the Jury, 1917
• Nancy Astor, Maiden Speech in Parliament, 1920
• Margaret Sanger, The Morality of Birth Control, 1921
• Virginia Woolf, Professions for Women, 1931
• Huda Sha’arawi, Speech at the Arab Feminist Conference, 1944
• Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, A Talk About Women, c. 1949
• Eva Perón, Speech to the Descamisados, 1951
• Helen Keller, The Life and Legacy of Louis Braille, 1952
• Eleanor Roosevelt, The United Nations as a Bridge, 1954
• Shirley Chisholm, Equal Rights for Women, 1969
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Argument in Frontiero v. Richardson, 1973
• Sylvia Rivera, Y’all Better Quiet Down, 1973
• Simone Veil, Speech to Parliament on Abortion Law, 1974
• Indira Gandhi, True Liberation of Women, 1980
• Margaret Thatcher, The Lady’s Not For Turning, 1980
• Ursula K. Le Guin, A Left-Handed Commencement Address, 1983
• Barbara McClintock, Nobel Lecture, 1983
• Corazon C. Aquino, Speech During the Joint Session of the US Congress, 1986
• Naomi Wolf, A Woman’s Place, 1992
• Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Address to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, 1992
• Wilma Mankiller, Northern Arizona University Commencement Speech, 1992
• Toni Morrison, Nobel Lecture, 1993
• Hillary Clinton, Remarks for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995
• Wangari Maathai, Nobel Lecture, 2004
• J.K. Rowling, Harvard University Commencement Speech, 2008
• Angela Merkel, Speech to the US Congress, 2009
• Sheryl Sandberg, Barnard College Commencement Speech, 2011
• Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Nobel Lecture, 2011
• Asmaa Mahfouz, The Vlog that Helped Spark the Egyptian Revolution, 2011
• Manal al-Sharif, The Drive for Freedom, 2012
• Julia Gillard, The Misogyny Speech, 2012
• Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Lecture, 2014
• Emma Watson, HeForShe Launch Campaign, 2014
• Jane Goodall, Caring for the Earth – Reasons for Hope, 2016
• Michelle Obama, Speech at the Democratic National Convention, 2016
• Gloria Steinem, Women’s March Speech, 2017
• Beatrice Fihn, Nobel Lecture, 2017
• Alicia Garza, An Ode to Black Women, 2017
• Maya Lin, SVA Commencement Address, 2018
• More Women to Inspire
• Read All About It!
• Credits
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright