I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.

This statement is associated with Amelia Earhart’s public articulation of why she flew and how she understood women’s place in fields dominated by men. It reflects the period in which Earhart, newly famous from record-setting flights, was repeatedly asked to justify her ambitions in terms of “women’s aviation” rather than simply aviation. In interviews and writings from the late 1920s and early 1930s, she pushed back against novelty framing, insisting on personal motive (“because I want to do it”) while also treating women’s attempts—and even their failures—as socially consequential. The remark fits her broader advocacy for women’s participation in technical and risky pursuits during the interwar era.

Earhart frames ambition as self-authorized rather than granted by social permission: she wants to act simply because she chooses to. The second sentence rejects the idea of “separate spheres” by insisting women pursue the same kinds of difficult, public, risk-laden endeavors men have historically claimed—especially in fields like aviation where danger and prestige were gendered male. Her final line recasts failure as productive: a woman’s setback should not be used as evidence that women “can’t,” but as a spur that normalizes trial, error, and persistence for those who follow. The quote thus links individual freedom to collective progress, arguing that visibility—successes and failures alike—expands what others can imagine and attempt.