Gender Challenges Quotes

Being a woman did not look enviable to me, even when it looked admirable. It looked like nonstop sacrifice and service. Because it was. Being a woman seemed vulnerable and sad. Even the strong women I knew - and they were all strong - had earned their strength through enduring huge disappointments and tremendous struggles.

I have been shaped by the experiences of the people who are closest to me, by the things I've learned from [my wife] Martha, by my hopes and my concerns for my children, Philip and Laura, by the experiences of members of my family, who are getting older, by my sister's experiences as a trial lawyer in a profession that has traditionally been dominated by men.

I've crossed many cultural and gender barriers as a woman.

It's a life choice to be a girl chef, as it is to be a boy chef. It feels pretty natural to me. It's a full-time, full-scale, full physical job, and a lot of times, it can take the place of kids and family. To be in this career is much more difficult for a woman to have a family, marriage - whatever that means. It's not a 9-5 job.

In my personal life I'm not very tough at all, but in my professional life, having to deal with being a woman in a man's world, I'm really tough. I never back down from a fight or an argument. I'm willing to stand there toe to toe with anyone.

I have frequently been questioned, especially by women, of how I could reconcile family life with a scientific career. Well, it has not been easy.

It's good to raise awareness that men and boys are struggling, at least many of them are. But why say men are finished? It's too harsh, too sweeping, and it happens to not be true.

I wore a thong and a bra and a wig. Those things hurt. I mean, thongs? Like, they dig in. It takes a tough man to be a woman.

Nobody wanted to help me get my start, not to mention it's tough being a female in a man's world of stand-up comedy. It's a very competitive world, and it was a challenge to find my own voice, stick to my guns.

It is, I think, harder for women. I haven't quite figured it out, and all of my women friends haven't figured it out -how the hell do you do this? How do you work and have families?

I would say the biggest challenge I had as a woman in science is be a mom. It's really hard. It's very hard work having children, and I tell kids this all the time.

More women than men graduate in media studies. They don't know how to find a fixer; they don't know about weaponry; they don't know where is safe, where is not safe - they just want to prove themselves.

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 can't imagine being a girl out there on the road. We can throw a hat on and stink. Girls have to do their hair.

The worst danger women face [in the modern state] is unemployment, which threatens to engulf them in the coming decade.

I have endless admiration for people like Chrissie Hynde who've been out as the only girl in a band. I'm not sure that, even as a little Marine Corps brat, I would've been able to deal with that.