Gender Expectation Quotes

Go let thy less than woman's hand Assume the distaff not the brand.

[on the birth of his son after having had two daughters] I finally got it right.

In my time and neighborhood (and in my soul) there was only one standard by which a woman measured success: did some man want her?

Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, "She doesn't have what it takes." They will say, "Women don't have what it takes.”

Women's natural role is to be a pillar of the family.

I like girls who are the housewife-type.

Do you think a woman's silence can be natural?

But do not understand me as saying, or for one moment suggesting, that women legislators should confine themselves to doing only social service work. Not at all.

Being in a band with guys didn't feel like what I should be doing.

I would prefer to have a more appealing job. If I could still change careers, I would prefer it. This unfortunate art is made for long beards and ugly faces rather than for a relatively well-endowed woman.

I think it's so important for a woman, if she's a writer, to look as feminine as possible.

Stay-at-home mothers, working mothers, people are very tough on each other. I don't see that in the world of men. I don't see working men who have children, and those who don't, judging each other. I think there's a different category of expectation.

You speak your mind, don't you...? A rare find in a woman.

A woman's heart must be of such a size and no larger, else it must be pressed small, like Chinese feet; her happiness is to be made as cakes are, by a fixed recipe.

I've given up trying to convince the world about the authenticity of my femininity.

When I was younger, I was so damn pretty, I looked like a girl, so I understand why guys didn't like me.

I'm not good at being, like, a sexy girl.

I have six sisters, so I assumed I'd have a girl. Learning I was having a boy was really weird.

I was given baby doll toys myself, and they proved a stark reminder that my life was expected to revolve around childbearing - just as my mom's had before me, and her mom's had before her.

I'm being photographed, worrying about my hair - and yet here I am, I've directed a feature film, why do I care about the way I look? Who cares? Does Tim Burton care? Does Joel Coen?

It amuses me that just because I'm white and always looked skinny, I'm supposed to be unphysical, soft, not tough.

I always wanted a girl growing up, as well as a boy, so to have a girl first is just really exciting.