These celebrity women show off their true girl power

To mark International Women's Day, we rounded up some of the most vocal and passionately self-declared feminists in Hollywood today. These role models work tirelessly to remove the stigma of the "f word" and replace it with the equal opportunity for - and celebration of - women excelling in every aspect of their personal and career lives...

MEGHAN MARKLE

Prince Harry's girlfriend and Suits star Meghan is a champion for women's rights, having traveled to India as part of her work with charity World Vision. The actress said on her website The Tig, "It is said that girls with dreams become women with vision. May we empower each other to carry out such vision — because it isn't enough to simply talk of equality. One must believe it. And it isn't enough to simply believe in it. One must work at it. Let us work at it. Together. Starting now."

EMMA WATSON

In her role as UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, Emma Watson gave a powerful speech that was heard around the globe on how to achieve equality of the sexes: she invited men to participate in the cause. "I want to take up this mantle. So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also that their sounds have permission to be vulnerable and human too - reclaim those parts of themselves they are abandoned and in doing so they are more true and complete version of themselves, "she Said when launching the #HeForShe campaign.

In a 2017 interview with Reuters, the Beauty and the Beast actress said, “Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with. It’s about freedom, it’s about liberation, it’s about equality.

SALMA HAYEK

The actress once famously called herself “not a feminist” before being honored as a women’s rights advocate at Equality Now’s Make Equality Reality in 2014. A year later, Salma changed her tune telling The Guardian, “I am a feminist because I love women and I am ready to fight for women.” She added, “I am a feminist because I am proud to be a woman, and I am passionate about making the world a better place for women. I am a feminist because a lot of amazing women have made me the woman I am today. I am inspired by women every day, as friends and as colleagues.”

MERYL STREEP

During a panel conversation with directors Ava DuVernay and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, the Hollywood legend and ally of Patricia Arquette — she gave a standing ovation during Patricia’s groundbreaking Oscar speech — defined the version of feminism that she developed for herself early in life: “I wanted to be Tom Sawyer, not Becky.”

Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage

PATRICIA ARQUETTE

The Boyhood star and Best Supporting Actress winner galvanized members of the Hollywood elite during her acceptance speech at the 2015 Oscars. “To every woman who gave birth. To every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America,” she said, and had Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine and Jennifer Lopez on their feet in support.

VIOLA DAVIS

After making history as the first African-American woman to win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama for her role on How to Get Away with Murder , Viola gave an equally historic acceptance speech. "You can not win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there," she said, before going on to thank "the Taraji P. Hensons, the Kerry Washingtons, the Halle Berrys, the Nicole Beharies, the Meagan Goods, to Gabrielle Union: Thank you for taking us over that line. "

BEYONCÉ

Proof the feminism can be as fierce and sexy as it is politically and socially motivated, Beyoncé closed the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards with a performance and the word “FEMINIST” emblazoned on the screen behind her. "I've always considered myself a feminist, although I was always afraid of that word because people put so much on it," Beyoncé said in a short film, Yours and Mine, released in December 2014. "When, honestly, it's very simple. It's just a person that believes in equality for men and women."

LENA DUNHAM

The true embodiment of what it means to be a #girlboss, Lena Dunham writes, produces and stars in her own HBO show, Girls, which has quickly positioned her as a powerful voice of her generation, and the writer also gets political leaders to declare their solidarity with the cause. During an interview with Hillary Clinton for her newsletter, Lenny, the former presidential candidate told Lena, “I’m a feminist, and I say it whenever I’m asked.”

HELEN MIRREN

Dame Helen Mirren has come up with the perfect solution for ending gender inequality on the big screen and in the world at large: “People often say, 'It's so terrible that women don't have great roles in movies,'" she said at Tina Brown’s Women in the World Summit in New York in April 2015. "I say: 'Forget that. That doesn't matter. Change roles for women in life, and you will find the roles for women in drama.'"

Photo: D Dipasupil/FilmMagic

LAVERNE COX

The Orange is the New Black actress, who became the face of the transgender movement in Hollywood, is also a flag-waving feminist. “I think transwomen, and transpeople in general, show everyone that you can define what it means to be a man or woman on your own terms,” she told Dame magazine. “A lot of what feminism is about is moving outside of roles and moving outside of expectations of who and what you’re supposed to be to live a more authentic life.”

ANNA KENDRICK

Anna Kendrick is the first to admit that the underlying stigma and confusion with the feminist word is why so many people are afraid to identify as such. "There is no word for a member of an ethnic minority who is equal rights for all races, but there is a word for gender equality - and that's feminism," the Pitch Perfect 2 star told The Daily Beast. "Why are we afraid of that word? It does not get rid of it, so let's fight for it and embrace it.