Women need not always keep their mouths shut and their wombs

The words of Emma Goldman, “Women need not always keep their mouths shut and their wombs open,” strike like thunder against the chains of silence and submission. In a single breath, she names the oppression of her age: that women were expected to speak little, to endure much, and to give their bodies endlessly for the service of men and the state. Her words burn with rebellion, calling forth a vision of woman not as vessel or ornament, but as a full and sovereign being.

The origin of this defiance lies in the suffrage and anarchist movements of the early twentieth century, when women across the world were rising to demand education, rights, and dignity. Goldman, fierce in spirit, saw how society reduced women to two functions—obedience and reproduction. To say they must not always keep their mouths shut was to demand their voice in politics, in philosophy, in life itself. To say they must not keep their wombs open was to challenge the tyranny of compulsory motherhood and the denial of reproductive freedom.

Consider the story of Margaret Sanger, Goldman’s contemporary, who fought for birth control in an era when even speaking of it was deemed criminal. She was arrested, slandered, and silenced, yet she persisted, knowing that unless women had control over their wombs, they would never have control over their destinies. Together, Sanger’s work and Goldman’s fiery words marked the birth of a movement that would change generations to come.

Goldman’s quote is not merely anger; it is heroic wisdom. It reminds us that silence and exploitation are not virtues, but chains. A woman’s mouth is for speaking truth, shaping laws, creating art, and leading communities—not only for quiet compliance. A woman’s womb is her own sacred space, to be opened or closed by her choice alone—not at the command of a husband, a priest, or a government.

The lesson is eternal: freedom cannot exist where half of humanity is silenced and bound. The liberation of women is not a gift to them alone, but a transformation for all of society, for when women speak, wisdom flows, and when women choose, justice expands.

Let the generations remember: Emma Goldman’s cry was not only for her time, but for all ages where women are silenced or reduced. Her words are a trumpet blast across history, declaring that dignity lies not in submission, but in sovereignty—that no mouth must be closed by fear, and no womb opened by force. In this truth lies the path to freedom for all.