Karen McDougal Quotes

I can't tell you the number of times I have been underestimated, objectified or deprived of fair credit for my accomplishments based on my gender or ethnicity.

Being a gal, people can be a bit patronizing. 'Oh, look at you using the computer.' They would never say that to a boy. And I don't let them do it to me.

We all deal with being unfairly judged.

It's not just in Hollywood that women run the risk of being passed by once they reach 50. It happens in real life, too.

Is there discrimination against women? Yes. There's no denying that the old boys' network is alive and well. But there's also discrimination against men.

Once again, no one in charge had given any thought to the possibility that a woman would be involved.

I think all industries are sexist in nature and I don't think the film industry is any different.

My experiences with gender bias are probably the norm. What I found was that expectations of women were simply lower, and this resulted in being overlooked for certain opportunities.

I was taught from a young age that many people would treat me as a second-class citizen because I was African-American and because I was female.

There are still people who have an issue working with a woman director. Women can be viewed as 'difficult' even though they work in the same way as men.

There are so many times that, as a woman in the music industry, you're asked questions no male musician would ever be asked.

Seeing how dumb and stupid they often are, I just couldn't imagine minions being girls.

When I graduated from law-school, there was not a single law firm in the entire City of New York that would hire me.

Nowhere is woman treated according to the merit of her work …. It is therefore almost inevitable that she should pay for right to exist, to keep a position in whatever line, with sex favors. Thus it is merely a question of degree whether she sells herself to one man, in or out of marriage, or to many men.

Do I think I am being held to a different standard than a man who would be in this exact same race with the exact same story? Might be? Yes. But that’s reality.

It often means that a woman is hired because she is pretty, regardless of her qualifications; that a woman's job security is eternally dependent on how well she pleases her boss, and he often thinks sexual companionship is part of the job description; and that women are fired because they have aged or they are too independent or they say 'no' to sexual byplay

As I got older, I had to learn to not have people speak for me. It was the first time I recognized, 'Oh, sometimes people are going to condescend to me because I'm a woman, or sometimes people aren't going to give me opportunities because of the way I look.'

Years ago, I worked in a newspaper office, and there were men that would have fits of temper, and it was just accepted that that's who they were, and everyone would laugh about it, but if a woman got upset or angry, something wasn't right: she was 'hysterical' or 'a little unhinged.' It didn't have the same sort of connotation at all.

It is obvious that discrimination exists. Women do not have the opportunities that men do. And women that do not conform to the system, who try to break with the accepted patterns, are stigmatized as odd and unfeminine.

When a woman stands up and is strong and commanding, she's called bossy. When a man does the same thing, people say, 'They're strong.'

I've always had really wonderful people around me. But early on, I remember I would walk into a session or go do something with some musicians, and they viewed me, basically, as their chick singer.

In my 20s, I was going round seeing agents who were patronising because I was fat and a girl, which was a double whammy. I knew what it was to feel out-of-the-loop.

I never really felt I had the same respect as my male team-mates. My opinion wasn't worth as much. I used to sit quietly in meetings and not say anything, as I knew my opinions would be disregarded. And that's after I had become Olympic champion and multiple world champion.

Fortunately, I have never been a victim of sexual harassment. But there have been instances where I have lost out on work or people have shown disinterest in working with me because I was unwilling to succumb to this unspoken understanding of patriarchy.

At first, being girls got us a lot of attention. But no one would take us seriously.