Diane Von Furstenberg: "I Believe All Women Are Strong"

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Diane Von Furstenberg made an appearance yesterday in Beijing, where she's promoting her new autobiography. Her message was pretty clear and straightforward: sisters need to do it for themselves. "I met my prince, and I married him, but that was not enough,” she said to the crowd. “I had to be responsible for my own life."

As the Wall Street Journal pointed out, women and men in China have not reached economic equality:

But others say Chinese women still struggle for equality in a culture that has long favored males, and that many Chinese women see marriage as their primary way of improving their socioeconomic status. The People’s Daily, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, reported Wednesday that local governments have failed to promote women for leadership roles. Women account for 42.5% of China’s civil servants, yet few have been promoted to senior positions, the report said.

Diane concluded her talk with this: "I believe all women are strong. Sometimes they just don’t show it." All we have to add is "Word."
· Marrying the Prince Is Not Enough, Von Furstenberg Says [WSJ]
· Diane Von Furstenberg Wants to Help You Get Laid [Racked]