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Thierry Mugler’s gold corset from the 1995 F/W Haute Couture collection used by Beyoncé in her 2009 video for “Sweet Dreams” is on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum as part of a fashion exhibit honoring the singer and her legendary career. 

"Beyonce has had ample opportunities to speak out against inequalities"

"She will have to prove she is more serious about equality by talking about it and making folks aware."

You know, equality is a myth, and for some reason, everyone accepts the fact that women don’t make as much money as men do.I don’t understand that. Why do we have to take a backseat?” she says.

“I truly believe that women should be financially independent from their men. And let’s face it: Money gives men the power to run the show. It gives men the power to define value. They define what’s sexy. And men define what’s feminine.It’s ridiculous.

- Beyonce, GQ Magazine

We need to stop buying into the myth about gender equality. It isn’t a reality yet. Today, women make up half of the U.S. workforce, but the average working woman earns only 77 percent of what the average working man makes. But unless women and men both say this is unacceptable, things will not change. Men have to demand that their wives, daughters, mothers, and sisters earn more—commensurate with their qualifications and not their gender. Equality will be achieved when men and women are granted equal pay and equal respect.

Humanity requires both men and women, and we are equally important and need one another. So why are we viewed as less than equal? These old attitudes are drilled into us from the very beginning. We have to teach our boys the rules of equality and respect, so that as they grow up, gender equality becomes a natural way of life. And we have to teach our girls that they can reach as high as humanly possible.

We have a lot of work to do, but we can get there if we work together. Women are more than 50 percent of the population and more than 50 percent of voters. We must demand that we all receive 100 percent of the opportunities.

Beyonce, an article she wrote for the Shriver Report

There is unbelievable power in ownership, and women should own their sexuality. There is a double standard when it comes to sexuality that still persists. Men are free and women are not. That is crazy. The old lessons of submissiveness and fragility made us victims. Women are so much more than that. You can be a businesswoman, a mother, an artist, and a feminist—whatever you want to be—and still be a sexual being. It’s not mutually exclusive.

While I am definitely conscious of all the different types of people who listen to my music, I really set out to make the most personal, honest, and best album I could make. I needed to free myself from the pressures and expectations of what I thought I should say or be, and just speak from the heart. Being that I am a woman in a male-dominated society, the feminist mentality rang true to me and became a way to personalize that struggle…But what I’m really referring to, and hoping for, is human rights and equality, not just that between a woman and a man. So I’m very happy if my words can ever inspire or empower someone who considers themselves an oppressed minority…We are all the same and we all want the same things: the right to be happy, to be just who we want to be and to love who we want to love.

Beyonce, Out Magazine

I have always felt strongly about equal opportunity for women. Girls have to be taught from early on that they are strong and capable of being anything they want to be. It’s up to us to change the statistics for women around the world. I’m honored to be in the company of women who live fearlessly and set an example for the next generation of young ladies.

Beyonce, co-founder and curator of Chime For Change, a charity dedicated to promoting health, justice and education for girls and woman all around the world