All my battles were with male egos. I’m just looking for equality, not to dominate. But I want to be able to control my vision.
Interpretation
Joni Mitchell emphasizes the struggle for equality in a male-dominated world, highlighting her desire for balance rather than control.
In this quote, Joni Mitchell reflects on her experiences with male egos and the challenges she faced while striving for equal recognition and respect. She clarifies that her aim is not to assert dominance over others but rather to maintain control over her own artistic vision, advocating for equality and mutual respect in her pursuit of success.
In practice
In a speech about gender equality at a conference, you might quote Joni Mitchell to emphasize the fight for balance in representation.
There's a man who's been out sailing In a decade full of dreams And he takes her to a schooner And he treats her like a queen Bearing beads from California With their amber stones and green He has called her from the harbor He has kissed her with his freedom He has heard her off to starboard In the breaking and the breathing Of the water weeds While she was busy being free
Unlike some of my peers, I haven't really hit a writer's block. When I hit a block I just paint, which is an old crop rotation trick.
This is a nation that has lost the ability to be self-critical, and that makes a lie out of the freedoms.
You wake up one day and suddenly realize that your youth is behind you, even though you're still young at heart.
I have an aversion to being mislabeled. Here's a label I'd accept: I'm an 'individual.' I'm someone who can't follow, and doesn't want to lead.
What I do is unusual: chordal movements that have never been used before, changing keys and modalities mid-song.
I would have girls regard themselves not as adjectives but as nouns.
The majority of small-holder farmers in Africa are women and, in urban areas, you're primarily looking at women-led households. So we can't solve hunger if we don't have gender-sensitive programming that addresses access to opportunities for women, whether it's through education or tools for cooking, like solar-powered stoves.
I do not think that the lives of women of my generation, as a class, were blighted by the way the power differentials between men and women operated. We wanted to change those power differentials; we also had a good time.
In the past a man was expected to give his seat on a bus to a woman. Today it would be much more courteous for that man to give her his job.
I spent most of my career in business not saying the word 'woman.' Because if you say the word 'woman' in a business context, and often in a political context, the person on the other side of the table thinks you're about to sue them or ask for special treatment, right?
In many parts of the world, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. But I think we need women to solve the problems that men create.
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