Women don’t quit. But sometimes they should

by · Australian Financial Review

Lindsay Crouse
Oct 3, 2026 – 5.00am

Many societies have long considered toughness a fundamentally masculine trait. This is certainly true in my culture: American culture. Here in the Wild West, the stoic cowboy endures harsh conditions without complaint. The American dream – from Benjamin Franklin to the Silicon Valley tech bros of today – celebrates the relentless work ethic of the self-made man.

This archetype sells. It saturates classic advertising (the Marlboro Man) and classic movies (The Terminator). It’s not uniquely American, of course; I once saw a bumper sticker from Cairo that read: “No airbags. We die like men.”

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