Nancy Mitford Quotes

Now, as always, the most automated appliance in a household is the mother.

Why do otherwise sane, competent, strong men, men who can wrestle bears or raid corporations, shrink away in horror at the thought of washing a dish or changing a diaper?

Women do kids. Women do cooking. Women doing everything. And yet, their position in society is totally unacceptable.

Whatever feminists may say about their only advocating choices, everyone knows the truth: Feminism regards work outside the home as more elevating, honorable, and personally productive than full-time mothering and making a home.

I'm not saying that women shouldn't pursue careers, but if it is going to be equal in the workplace, it should certainly pan out to be a little bit more equal in the home, too.

England is the paradise of women, the purgatory of men, and the hell of horses.

My passion is writing, but it is also a fight because I still see home as a woman's duty.

In Swat, there are two jobs a woman's going to do: a teacher or a doctor. If not, then become a housewife.

As the son of a feminist mother, I grew up with the idea that work was a sort of salvation for women as it would give them freedom from the domestic grind. Now it seems work is a form of slavery, undertaken out of apparent compulsion rather than choice.

'I hate discussions of feminism that end up with who does the dishes,' she said. So do I. But at the end, there are always the damned dishes.

The deal is that women have entered the workforce, but they have not been relieved of the domestic responsibilities.

American women are so fortunate. When I got married, all I wanted in the world was a dryer so I didn't have to hang up my diapers. And now women have paper diapers and all sorts of conveniences in the home. And it is the man and the technology that has made the home such a pleasant place for women to be.

I am criticizing a culture that has sold the big lie that 'Mom doesn't matter.'

Society is still adapting to women being CEOs and professionals rather than homemakers. Because of this, the unfortunate outcome is that we feel we have to be successful at both - in the office and in the home. Striking that balance is different for everyone.

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.

Women take much the biggest proportion of work in terms of home and childcare. Societally we need a culture change. It's still the case that expectations are different for men and women.

Physically, women have some challenges in the kitchen, like lifting heavy pots on and off the stove. You learn to adapt; you learn to find a way. But the biggest challenge for women in this industry is how to balance a family with such a demanding career.

I make more meals than most men do in a week.

Traditionally, our society has always seen women as homemakers and men as bread-earners. The demarcations are engraved in stone, perhaps.

Nobody asks a working man who looks after his children; it's always the woman who is asked.

... the majority of colored men do not yet think it worth while that women aspire to higher education.... The three R's, a littlemusic and a good deal of dancing, a first rate dress-maker and a bottle of magnolia balm, are quite enough generally to render charming any woman possessed of tact and the capacity for worshipping masculinity.

I do think women avoid power. Power assumes responsibility and accountability, and I think many, many women want to have it both ways.

Society never made the preposterous demand that a man should think as much about his own qualifications for making a charming girl happy as he thinks of hers for making himself happy.

I think we're a kind of desperation. We're sort of a maddening luxury. The basic and essential human is the woman, and all that we're doing is trying to brighten up the place. That's why all the birds who belong to our sex have prettier feathers - because males have got to try and justify their existence.

There's competitiveness in everything. In any job, I'm sure. I think there's also this stereotype that women together are catty and competitive, which is just - nobody ever talks about men being catty or competitive. I don't think that's fair.