"Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others"
About this Quote
The subtext is how tightly she binds equality to identical standards. “Women, like men” quietly rejects the era’s softer, “protective” expectations - the idea that women should be spared danger, competition, or consequence. Earhart’s premise is that belonging in the public sphere includes the right to attempt grand things and the right to come up short without being used as evidence that the whole project was a mistake.
Context matters because aviation in the 1920s and 1930s wasn’t just a sport; it was a proving ground for modernity, technology, and national prestige. Earhart’s fame turned her into a symbol whether she wanted it or not, and she leverages that visibility here. If she fails, she implies, the story shouldn’t be “women can’t.” It should be “someone else, pick up the map and fly farther.” The line converts personal risk into a relay race, a strategy for outlasting a world eager to treat one woman’s fall as a ceiling.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Earhart, Amelia. (2026, January 15). Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/women-like-men-should-try-to-do-the-impossible-29786/
Chicago Style
Earhart, Amelia. "Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/women-like-men-should-try-to-do-the-impossible-29786/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/women-like-men-should-try-to-do-the-impossible-29786/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.











