I'm not saying that women leaders would eliminate violence. We are not more moral than men; we are only uncorrupted by power so far. When we do acquire power, we might turn out to have an equal impulse toward aggression.
— Gloria Steinem
Monotheism makes me grouchy. I don't trust any religion that makes God look like one of the ruling class. I guess I'm a pagan or an animist.
I want to help correct the inaccurate image of immigration in the media. There is an idea that women's issues are over here and immigration is over there. Three quarters of undocumented workers are women and children.
After feminism, I suddenly realised: not everyone has to live the same way. Imagine that!
'Ms.' always flouted the rules of the ad world that say, especially for products directed at women, that the ad must be connected to the editorial. You don't have food ads unless you have recipes. You don't get clothing ads unless you have lavish fashion coverage. We never did that; every other women's magazine does.
The same way that racism is a white person's problem, violence against women is a men's problem.
Secretary of state is far superior to vice president, because it's involved in continuously solving problems and making policy and not being on standby.
There's no shortage of great young activists.
The thing about aging is all your old lovers, pretty much if they were really friends, become your family. It's great. You have those terrible feelings of possessiveness and uncertainty go out the window. You have what you shared. You know you would help each other in times of trouble no matter what.
What we need to be able to do is count all human experience. So I would like to count the secretarial positions as good training places to take over the jobs of the bosses.
I was never against marriage per se. Before feminism, I didn't think you had any choice. In fact, for a long time I always assumed I would get married. I just didn't see any marriages I wanted to emulate, so I kept putting it off.
The Native American cultures on this continent, most of them, were matrilineal, and some women were the chiefs. Societies were about balance.
I looked up affirmative action once in Wikipedia, and it said, 'A measure by which white men are discriminated against,' and I got so mad.
I am not patient.
Women tend to need the healthcare system more because we bear children. Insurance companies - not all of them, but many of them - 'gender-rate.' Women may pay 40% more for their health insurance than men do.
We are still behaving as if a worker really doesn't have a family because the work pattern really was meant for men who really were the financial support but weren't looking after their families. We need to change this, and we can easily do that.
I can say whatever it is that I feel.
Women don't want to exchange places with men. Male chauvinists, science-fiction writers and comedians may favor that idea for its shock value, but psychologists say it is a fantasy based on ruling-class ego and guilt.
What is frustrating is being told that no matter how hard I've worked, it counts less than my appearance. Although if you're not considered conventionally attractive, that also becomes an issue: you know, you're a feminist because you couldn't get a man.
I was the first woman to speak ever at the National Press Club, and they gave me a necktie.
I keep thinking: 'Georgia O'Keeffe wouldn't have had Botox.'
The surest way to be alone is to get married.
We're never going to have democratic countries or peaceful countries until we have democratic or peaceful families.
Perfect is boring: Beauty is irregular.
What happens at 50, more or less, you lose what you need to create another person, to sustain another person; you keep what you need to sustain yourself. And there's something wonderful about that.
Women are liked better when they lose.
Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life.
It's heartbreaking to watch people working against themselves.
Age brings a freedom. When you're young, you're much more subject to the idea of what feminine is or how you should look or how you should behave.
I hate to generalize, but in general, both men and women suffer from ageism. Men much less because men gain power as they get older. Women lose power as they get older. Men are seen as gaining experience and being distinguished. Sons look forward to replacing their fathers.
Part of the reason that women go to college is to get out of the food service, clerical, pink-collar ghetto and into a more white-collar job. That does not necessarily mean they are being paid more than the blue-collar jobs men have.
Rich cultures, patriarchal cultures, value thin women, like ours; poor ones value fat women. But all patriarchal cultures value weak women. So for women to become physically strong is very profound.
Liberation does not come from outside.
Because we are communal creatures, if you're with people who think you're smart, you're smart, and if they think you're dumb, you're dumb.
I always wanted to put a sign up on the road to Yale saying, 'Beware: Deconstruction Ahead.'
Because women of color were more likely to be in the paid labor force, they were more likely to recognize discrimination, so they were always leading the women's movement.
Do women compete for the favours of men? Yes. They've spent 5,000 years competing.
I hope to live to 100. There is so much to do.
There's been the same kind of demonizing of the word 'feminism' as words like 'liberal,' 'affirmative action,' and so on.
The question of whether one has one's own political power or goes to work for someone else is not only a feminist question.
Perfectionism attaches to what is valued in the culture.
Everything about aging in my experience so far has been a plus. Except the death part!
Women are more than smart enough to see that McCain's policies are a disaster... He is anti- every reproductive issue we've ever fought for.
I'm lucky I don't make my living in front of the camera.
How could you not love Norman Mailer? He was a total chauvinist, but also so vulnerable.
The problem for all women is we're identified by how we look instead of by our heads and our hearts.
Pop culture shapes our ideas of what is normal and what our dreams can be and what our roles are. Politics, of course, decides how the power and the money in the country is distributed. Both are equally important, and each affects the other.
All women, and men of color - we were owned like tables and chairs. We spent a hundred years getting a legal identity as human beings. That's a big thing.
A parking lot attendant who's a guy makes a lot more money than a child-care attendant who's a woman.
There's nothing automatic about political change, about liberation.
