QuoteProject
Everything that explains the world has in fact explained a world that does not exist, a world in which men are at the center of the human enterprise and women are at the margin "helping' them. Such a world does not exist - never has.
Gerda Lerner
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote critiques the historical narrative that centers men while relegating women to a marginal role, asserting that this skewed perspective misrepresents reality.

Gerda Lerner's quote challenges the traditional narratives that have historically depicted men as the primary actors in the human story, while portraying women as peripheral figures. She argues that this outlook not only distorts the true fabric of society but also ignores the significant contributions women have made throughout history. By emphasizing that a world where women are merely 'helpers' to men never truly existed, Lerner calls for a re-evaluation of historical accounts to include the full participation and influence of women.

Themes

GenderWomenHistoryNarrativeSociety

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about gender roles in history, this quote can emphasize the need for a broader representation of women's contributions.

More from Gerda Lerner

Men develop ideas and systems of explanation by absorbing past knowledge and critiquing and superseding it. Women, ignorant of their own history [do] not know what women before them had thought and taught. So generation after generation, they [struggle] for insights others had already had before them, [resulting in] the constant inventing of the wheel.
Gerda LernerRead
When I started working on women's history about thirty years ago, the field did not exist. People didn't think that women had a history worth knowing.
Gerda LernerRead

Similar quotes

A woman can never be too rich or too thin, but until very, very recently, she could be too powerful, for which - if she wasn't smart enough to camouflage herself - she generally paid the price.
Stacy SchiffRead
What works for a man, still does not work for a woman - both in terms of how they see themselves and how we see them.
Madeleine M. KuninRead
Girls actually need superheroes much more than boys.
Gloria SteinemRead
Growing up female in America. What a liability! You grew up with your ears full of cosmetic ads, love songs, advice columns, whoreoscopes, Hollywood gossip, and moral dilemmas on the level of TV soap operas. What litanies the advertisers of the good life chanted at you! What curious catechisms!
Erica JongRead
They say that women talk too much. If you have worked in Congress you know that the filibuster was invented by men.
Clare Boothe LuceRead
In fact, there is perhaps only one human being in a thousand who is passionately interested in his job for the job's sake. The difference is that if that one person in a thousand is a man, we say, simply, that he is passionately keen on his job; if she is a woman, we say she is a freak.
Dorothy L. SayersRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.