an archive of notable childfree women
PEERAGE
Musician b. 1957
“People forget the punk thing was really good for women. It motivated them to pick up a guitar rather than be a chanteuse. It allowed us to be aggressive.”
Author
b. 1919 d. 1999
“I think being a woman is like being Irish. Everyone says you're important and nice, but you take second place all the same.”
Performer
b. 1972
"Now I'm just going to watch how my life unfolds and see what happens. I'm not going to be less of a person if I don't have children. It will work out the way it is supposed to.”
“If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves”
Lillian Hellman
Icon
b. 1934
“Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself.”
Philosopher
b. 1871 d. 1940
“Hope looks forward. Faith knows it has already received and acts accordingly.”
Author
b. 1909 d. 2001
“I am a writer who came of a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.”
“I love children, especially when they cry, for then someone takes them away.”
Nancy Mitford
“The world, universe, God, whatever you call it, has so much more in store if you just sit back and relax and do what's right in front of you.”
Jane Lynch
Curator b. 1965
“The privilege I've had as a curator is not just the discovery of new works... but what I've discovered about myself and what I can offer in the space of an exhibition - to talk about beauty, to talk about power, to talk about ourselves, and to talk and speak to each other.”
Pioneer
b. 1924 d. 2005
“It is not female egotism to say that the future of mankind may very well be ours to determine. It is a fact. The warmth, gentleness, and compassion that are part of the female stereo- type are positive human values, values that are becoming more and more important as the values of our world begin to shatter and fall from our grasp.”
Editor
b. 1908 d. 2009
" A flair for something–I don’t care what it is, but whatever it is, have elegance in it, even if it’s shining shoes. And knowledge–whatever you do, learn more about what you’re doing."
Actor b. 1969
"Motherhood has never been an ambition. I don't think like that. I never have expectations like 'when I'm 19 I'm going to do this, and by the time I've hit 25 I'm going to do that'. I just take things as they come, each day at a time."
Author
b. 1908 d. 1986
“The word love has by no means the same sense for both sexes, and this is one cause of the serious misunderstandings that divide them.”
“There are enough women to do the childbearing and childrearing. I know of none who can write my books.”
H. H. Richardson
Icon
b. 1946
“When I was a girl and fooling around I was scared to death I'd get pregnant, and then when I got married and wanted to have children I couldn't have any. But I don't miss it. I did for awhile, but I realize that I am everybody's mother”
Actor b. 1959
“I sometimes like the situation that forces you to rely on your instinct and impulses.”
Comedian
b. 1961
“I think it's good for a person to spend time alone. It gives them an opportunity to discover who they are and to figure out why they are always alone.”
Comedian
b. 1975
"I definitely don't want to have kids. I don't think I'd be a great mother, I don't want to have a kid and have it raised by a nanny. I don't have the time to raise a child myself."