Yesterday, I took advantage of another Saturday adventure in downtown Portland to make a return visit to the campus of my alma mater Portland State University to visit a site that’s become my most favorite spot in all of Portland: The Walk of The Heroines. The Walk of The Heroines is a memorial dedicated to women of the past and present who have made advancements in society from technology to politics and more in the name of women’s empowerment. For this blog post, I’m going to let the images and quotes from the walk do all the talking.
Every gain women have made in the past two hundred years has been in the face of experts insisting they couldn’t do it and didn’t really want to.
~ Katha Pollitt, 2005
Every woman I have ever loved has left her print upon me, where I loved some invaluable piece of myself apart from me—so different that I had to stretch and grow in order to recognize her.
~ Audre Lorde 1982
A political struggle that does not have women at the heart of it, above it, below it and within it is no struggle at all.
~ Arundhati Roy, 2004
They said, “You are a savage and dangerous woman.” I am speaking the truth, and the truth is savage and dangerous.
~ Nawal El Saadawi, 1975
I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.
~ Rebecca West, 1913
The education and empowerment of women throughout the world cannot fail to result in a more caring, tolerant, just, and peaceful life for all.
~ Aung San Suu Kyi, 1995
If there’s one thing I wish every city in the world had, it would be a women’s history memorial and museum. Women’s history is such an important part of our culture that it’s extremely ignorant of society to act like the events and accomplishments from women don’t matter. From this day, I’ve made it a weekend ritual to come visit the Walk of Heroines. Because nothing matters to me more than paying my respects and admiration to these trailblazing women in history.
