Gurinder Chadha Quotes

I'm one of nine sisters. My parents were dairy farmers in Wisconsin. My father didn't believe in girls doing farm work. Girls did housework, and he hired young men to do farm work. I would have preferred to be outside.

When I was 11, I saw this ad for dish soap powder that said, 'Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans.' I was so angry. I couldn't understand why it didn't say men as well.

I'd like us to deliver a little message to all the men still out there who think it's the '50s, and coming home simply means watching television with a beer.

Most men I know rely on women to do all the literal dirty work.

My hunch is that probably men are doing more both outside the home and inside the home.

I've never been drawn to the feminist movement. I was brought up to believe that men had little to do with the home or children - except to bring in the money.

Housework is the only activity at which men are allowed to be consistently inept because they are thought to be so competent at everything else.

Whenever anything went wrong at home, because I was the only boy, I would get blamed for it straight away. Girls stick together.

In my generation, if a man washes the dishes, the older women still tend to cluster around and coo and thank him and praise him. But if a woman washes the dishes, it's business as usual, even if both man and woman have tough office jobs.

Women have taken on traditionally masculine roles and professions, and there is no real equivalent for men. Men are still extremely reluctant, as we all are reluctant to see them, take on traditionally feminine roles or professions. That is just not something that they do easily.

In a home where there is an able-bodied husband, he is expected to be the breadwinner.

And whereas women had to fight to find their way into the workforce, men are now fighting to reclaim their place in the family structure.

As a kid, I was always mad - just noticing the women at Thanksgiving, running around the kitchen, while the men were watching football. For one, I don't want to cook, and for two, I hate football. I was stuck in the middle.

Nobody has said to men, 'It is OK if you want to be a full-time dad; find a woman who will support you.'

Many men today can cook, or at least order takeout, and know where and how to hire domestic help, perhaps with refreshing clarity and less anxiety than ever-conflicted mothers.

I had to keep from laughing when a male relative of mine became concerned about how often I danced.

I don't think a female running a house is a problem, a broken family. It's perceived as one because of the notion that a head is a man.

Men are self-confident because they grow up identifying with super-heroes. Women have bad self-images because they grow up identifying with Barbie.

My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance.

It is the woman - nearly always - in spite of all the advances of modern feminism, who still takes responsibility for the bulk of the chores, as well as doing her paid job. This is true even in households where men try to be unselfish and to do their share.

It was seldom suggested that women’s drudgery could be decreased in the meantime by the simple expedient of sharing it with men.

Most people assume that women are responsible for households and child care. Most couples operate that way - not all. That fundamental assumption holds women back.

Cooking is a weird thing. In homes, I'd wager it's still women who do more of the cooking.

We urgently need to address the assumption bound up in our employment laws and custody arrangements that women are the 'natural child carers' and men don't really want much to do with their children.

Girls have an unfair advantage over men: if they can't get what they want by being smart, they can get it by being dumb.