Phyllis McGinley Quotes

I would gladly admit women are superior to men if only they would stop trying to be the same as us.

As I get older I think, contrary to modern assumption but in line with the old Lerner and Lowe song, that it would actually benefit both them and society if - to quote Professor Higgins - a woman could be more like a man.

I grew up in a time when many people believed that men and women should not always be treated equally.

I do think the attempt to raise consciousness has succeeded. People are very aware of gender concerns now.

We can't destroy the inequities between men and women until we destroy marriage.

I grew up in a home where I was literally told from a young age, 'No daughter of mine will ever wash a man's socks,' and I am pleased to say I never have. It was made clear that whatever I wanted to do I should aspire to, regardless of my gender.

Now, since I'm a husband and father, discrimination against women isn't just political, it's personal.

Feminism isn't about hating men. It's about challenging the absurd gender distinctions that boys and girls learn from childhood and carry into their adult lives.

No, feminism isn't 'over.' We need it not only to challenge injustice but because the whole gender expectations thing is bad for men, too.

I'd like to get to the point where I can be just as mediocre as a man.

Women are not by nature inferior to men...

On a daily basis, I think it's really important to be conscious of gender-based discrimination - which presents in sometimes more, but often less, obvious forms - and do everything possible to defeat that discrimination.

I have a son and a daughter; I try to teach them equally about balance, gender, and gender equity.

Yes, I believe in equality. But I don't like the word 'feminist,' because it's such a rational belief to think that women are equal to men, and I'm a rational person. You shouldn't be labeled for being reasonable.

My general idea of the world is that I'm not different at all because I'm a girl. So I get blindsided sometimes because I forget that that's a thing.

I'm saying the excessive focus on what gender a person is, rather than what they do, does a disservice to women.

In the last 25 years, we've convinced ourselves and a majority of the country that women can do what men can do. Now we have to convince the majority of the country - and ourselves - that men can do what women can do. ... Let's face it: until men are fully equal inside the home, women will never be really equal outside it.

I say that male and female are cast in the same mold; except for education and habits, the difference is not great.

Women are not altogether in the wrong when they refuse the rules of life prescribed to the World, for men only have established them and without their consent.

All sorts of articles and letters appear in the papers about women. Profound questions are raised concerning them. Should they smoke? Should they work? Vote? Marry? Exist? Are not their skirts too short, or their sleeves? Have they a sense of humor, of honor, of direction? Are spinsters superfluous? But how seldom similar inquiries are propounded about men.

I do think there is a sort of natural balance in nature between men and women, and that it's being thrown off-balance by the social and economic inequities between men and women.

My theory is that men are no more liberated than women.

Some of the most patriarchal thinkers I know are women. Some of the most feminist thinkers are men.

We come back to Kate Fagan of ESPN who says we need to reprogram the way we're raising men. You notice we never, ever, nobody ever discusses the possibility that we might need to reprogram the way we raise women. Why? Because that's already perfect.

There is no longer a doubt that women are just as competent as men. Gender differences are guided by nurture, as society treats boys and girls differently from an early age.