by Robin Landry

Created on: November 19, 2009

"A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." I think I saw this phrase for the first time on a bumper sticker some years ago. At the time I had just broken up with a boyfriend and recall chuckling and thinking, "That's right!" But now that I've "mellowed with age" I wonder if this kind of gentle "gender bashing" is really just "all in good fun" or perhaps a symptom of some deeper, ongoing conflict between men and women that ultimately is damaging the health of our relationships.

The quote itself has often been incorrectly attributed to 1970s feminist Gloria Steinem, famous for, among other things, founding Ms. Magazine and for her outspoken support of the Equal Rights Amendment. In actuality, Australian writer, politician and activist Irina Dunn was responsible and indicated that she paraphrased a quote from one of her university philosophy textbooks, "A man needs God like a fish needs a bicycle" and posted her version as graffiti in two restrooms in Australia. Dunn admits that at the time she was partly motivated by her awareness of the growing feminist movement in the 1970s and partly by the fact that she was simply being a smart-alecky college student. So, it is somewhat surprising that nearly forty years later the quote not only endures, but continues to generate sometimes rather heated debates about its meaning and validity.

I think on some level the phrase can be rather empowering to women. When women in places like the United States, Europe, Australia, Canada, Israel and modern Japan compare their lot in life to that of women in places like Iraq and Afghanistan I can't help but think that there must be a collective sigh of relief and a feeling of gratitude for the level of freedom and equality that women in the industrialized nations enjoy. While women cannot yet claim complete and utter equality in every aspect of life, we have certainly come a long way in the last few generations.

Our great-grandmothers achieved the vote in 1920. Our grandmothers worked in critical industries during World War II while our mothers entered the workforce in growing numbers during the 1960s and 70s. And as the youngest Baby Boomer women, along with those of Generation X and Generation Y continue to achieve, by attaining college degrees in record numbers and advancing to the highest levels of business and politics while also enjoying unprecedented independence, can anyone really blame us for becoming a bit cocky when it comes to our perceptions regarding the role

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