Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Gloria Steinem

Quote by Gloria Steinem

“No matter how hard I worked, whatever I accomplished was attributed to my looks. If you're working your ass off, then you don't want to be told that you only got whatever because of the way you look. It takes the heart out of you.”

Quote by Gloria Steinem

Create image

Author

Gloria Steinem
Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem is an American journalist and social activist, renowned for her leadership in the women's rights movement. Born on March 25, 1934, she was one of the founding editors of Ms. magazine and played a pivotal role in the women's liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Steinem's work has covered a wide range of issues from gender equality to environmental justice. more

You May Also Like

“I think that part of everybody's success is due to their looks, but it just works in different ways. If you're whatever society calls attractive, then people say that you got ahead because of your looks-especially if you're a woman. If you're whatever society says is not attractive, then they say you got ahead because you're compensating, you couldn't get a man or whatever. So everybody pays the same penalty for the fact that women are assessed for their outsides rather than for what's in our heads and our hearts.”

PeopleIfsThinkingMenWayLooksHeartDifferentFactsPayDuesAttractiveDifferent WaysPenalties
Author:Gloria Steinem
Create image

“I spend a lot of time on college campuses, and I don't quite understand where the idea comes from that young women are not moving forward. In fact, statistically, if you look at the public opinion polls, young women are much more supportive of feminism and feminist issues than older women are.”

IfsLooksIdeasFactsMovingYoungOpinionIssuesFeminismCollegeFeministMoving ForwardYoung WomenSupportivePublic OpinionPollsCampusOlder WomenCollege CampusOpinion Polls
Author:Gloria Steinem
Create image

“We are still in various kinds of patriarchal systems. The very definition of patriarchy is that men control women as the means of reproduction, so the idea that a woman's main role is to have children often means society wants more workers, more soldiers. The idea that how many children we have should be controlled by the family, the church, the nation - by anyone but women themselves - is still very deep and very strong.”

MenWantShouldKindMeanChildrenStillsIdeasStrongNationsChurchRolesWorkersSoldierDefinitionsVariousControlledVery StrongPatriarchyReproductionVery Deep
Author:Gloria Steinem
Create image

“When I was growing up, you were supposed to marry and therefore didn't plan ahead. Planning ahead is one of the few reliable measures of class in the sense that rich people plan for generations forward and poor people plan for Saturday night, and by that measure, women have been lower class. We were less likely to plan ahead because we're more likely to think that who we marry and our children are going to dictate our plans.”

PeopleThinkingChildrenHas BeensNightPoorClassGrowing UpRichGrowingPlansGenerationsOur ChildrenPlanningSaturdayPoor PeopleRich PeopleSaturday NightLower ClassPlanning Ahead
Author:Gloria Steinem
Create image

“I can only tell you the kind of power I want, which is the power to persuade. But I do not want the power to tell other people what to do. Persuade assumes that the other person is going to make the decision. Especially as a writer and an activist, I want the power to put ideas and possibilities out there, but I understand that they will only work if they are freely chosen, so I don't want the power to dictate or to force the choice, ever.”

PeopleIfsWantKindPersonsI CanIdeasChoicesForceDecisionPossibilityAssumingChosenActivist
Author:Gloria Steinem
Create image