When the men are silent, it is our duty to raise our voices in behalf of our ideals.
Clara ZetkinRead
In individual industries where female labour pays an important role, any movement advocating better wages, shorter working hours, etc., would not be doomed from the start because of the attitude of those women workers who are not organized.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that organized movements for better working conditions are vital, even if some women workers remain unorganized.
Clara Zetkin's quote highlights the crucial role of female labor in various industries and asserts that movements aimed at improving wages and working conditions can be effective, despite the presence of unorganized women workers. It suggests that unity among workers can lead to significant changes and improvements in their circumstances.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech advocating for women's rights in the workforce.
When the men are silent, it is our duty to raise our voices in behalf of our ideals.
For reforms ameliorate the situation of the working class, they lighten the weight of the chains labour is burdened with by capitalism, but they are not sufficient to crush capitalism and to emancipate the workers from their tyranny.
When the men kill, it is up to us women to fight for the preservation of life.
Each reform, therefore, improving the economical and political situation of the workers proves to be an arm that increases the energy with which the proletarian struggle of classes is fought.
The socialist parties of all countries are duty bound to fight energetically for the implementation of universal women's suffrage which is to be vigorously advocated both by agitation and by parliamentary means. When a battle for suffrage is conducted, it should only be conducted according to socialist principles, and therefore with the demand of universal suffrage for women and men.
In the women's world, as well as in the men's world, there exists the class law and the class struggle, and it appears as fully established that sometimes between the socialist working women and those belonging to the middle class, there may be antagonisms.
It has always been preferable to attribute a woman's success to her beauty rather than to her brains, to reduce her to the sum of her sex life.
The more I think on the present condition of woman, the more am I oppressed with the reality of their degradation.
Here's my feeling: For everyone, men and women, it's important to be a feminist. It's important to have female characters. It's wonderful for women to mentor other women, but it's just as important for women to mentor men and vice-versa. In my line of work, having Greg Daniels be such a great mentor to me is fantastic. Finding a writer's assistant, be it a man or a woman, and encouraging them to think with a feminist perspective, is key.
The older I get, the more impressed I am with women. I have yet to meet a woman who is not strong. They don't exist.
If women can sleep their way to the top, how come they aren't there?
We all fight over what the label 'feminism' means but for me it's about empowerment. It's not about being more powerful than men - it's about having equal rights with protection, support, justice. It's about very basic things. It's not a badge like a fashion item.
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