Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Crystal Eastman

Quote by Crystal Eastman

“What is the problem of women's freedom? It seems to me to be this: how to arrange the world so that women can be human beings, with a chance to exercise their infinitely varied gifts in infinitely varied ways, instead of being destined by the accident of their sex to one field of activity--housework and child-raising. And second, if and when they choose housework and child-raising to have that occupation recognized by the world as work, requiring a definite economic reward and not merely entitling the performer to be dependent on some man.”

Quote by Crystal Eastman

Create image

Author

Crystal Eastman
Crystal Eastman

Crystal Eastman was an American lawyer, activist, and academic, a prominent figure during the Progressive Era. Known for her work in labor rights, women's suffrage, and civil liberties, Eastman was a leading advocate for social justice. She was a key figure in the labor rights movement, a pivotal player in the women's suffrage movement, and a proponent of civil liberties. more

You May Also Like

“Billboards, billboards, drink this, eat that, use all manner of things, everyone, the best, the cheapest, the purest and most satisfying of all their available counterparts. Red lights flicker on every horizon, airplanes beware; cars flash by, more lights. Workers repair the gas main. Signs, signs, lights, lights, streets, streets.”

UseLightStreetsCarDrinkRedWorkersAvailableGasLos AngelesHorizonSatisfyingAirplaneFlashCounterpartsFlickerBillboardsRed Lights
Author:Neal Cassady
Create image

“Autonomy means women defining themselves and the values by which they will live, and beginning to think of institutional arrangements which will order their environment in line with their needs.... Autonomy means moving out from a world in which one is born to marginality, to a past without meaning, and a future determined by others--into a world in which one acts and chooses, aware of a meaningful past and free to shape one's future.”

ThinkingWorldNeedsMeanPastMovingValuesOrderBornLinesEnvironmentShapesIndependenceDeterminedMeaningfulArrangementsAutonomyDefiningMoving Out
Author:Gerda Lerner
Create image

“For boys, the family was the place from which one sprang and to which one returned for comfort and support, but the field of action was the larger world of wilderness, adventure, industry, labor, and politics. For girls, the family was to be the world, their field of action the domestic circle. He was to express himself in his work and, through it and social action, was to help transform his environment; her individual growth and choices were restricted to lead her to express herself through love, wifehood, and motherhood--through the support and nurture of others, who would act for her.”

WorldHelpingActionChoicesGirlIndividualSocialGrowthBoysSupportEnvironmentFieldsAdventureIndustryComfortLaborMotherhoodCirclesWildernessNurtureSocial Action
Author:Gerda Lerner
Create image

“We all enter the world little plastic beings, with so much natural force, perhaps, but for the rest--blank; and the world tells uswhat we are to be, and shapes us by the ends it sets before us. To you it says--Work; and to us it says--Seem! To you it says--As you approximate to man's highest ideal of God, as your arm is strong and your knowledge great, and the power to labour is with you, so you shall gain all that human heart desires. To us it says--Strength shall not help you, nor knowledge, nor labour. You shall gain what men gain, but by other means. And so the world makes men and women.”

MenWorldHumansHeartMeanLittlesEndsHelpingSeemsDesireStrongForceNaturalArmsShapesHighestMen And WomenGainsIdealsLabourPlasticBlankHuman HeartHearts Desire
Book:The Story of an African Farm: A Novel
Create image