This remark is now widely attributed to the American feminist Gloria Steinem (born 1934), but seems to have originated as an anonymous graffito (see quot. 1979).
‘A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.’ Penned as a Woman's Lib slogan, this was met by the male response: ‘Yes, but who needs a stationary haddock?’
[1979 N. Rees Graffiti Lives OK 80]
Women may have decided they need men like a fish needs a bicycle, but the pram in the hall is with us still, ruthlessly demanding attention.
[2001 Times Literary Supplement 28 Dec. 8]
Related to: women
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. Copyright © 1982, 1992, 1998, 2003, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
