“A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.”
Gloria Steinem was born in 1934, in Toledo, Ohio. Steinem has an extraordinary upbringing as she spent her early years traveling with her parents in a house trailer until she was 11 years old. After the divorce of her parents, she settled with her mother in Ohio who was suffering from chronicle depression.
After graduating from college, Gloria went to India on a scholarship. After that, she began to work as a writer and journalist in New York City. She became widely popular after publishing her article “I Was a Playboy Bunny,” where she exposes New York City’s Playboy club after being undercover for the piece and working as a waitress at the club. She continues to write about politics and became engaged in women’s rights after reporting on an abortion hearing given by the radical feminist group Redstockings.
She wrote several famous essays about women, women’s rights, and feminism such as After Black Power, Women’s Liberation, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, Moving Beyond Words: Age, Rage, Sex, Power, Money, Muscles: Breaking the Boundaries of Gender or Revolution from Within (1992). Moreover, in 1972, she co-founded the feminist-themed magazine Ms., where important topics such as domestic violence and violence against women were discussed.
She became a founder of several organizations and associations fighting for women’s rights such as the National Women’s Political Caucus, Voters for Choice, Women Against Pornography, and the Women’s Media Center. In addition, she founded the Women’s Action Alliance, which is a national information center that specialized in nonsexist, multiracial children’s education.
Her activism brought a lot of attention to several key historical moments such as the Gulf War or South Africa Apartheid System. She was very active in several political campaigns in the USA. In 2016, she was a supporter of Hillary Clinton and after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, she was a co-chair and speaker at the Women’s March in Washington.
Gloria Steinem stood up for women and a lot of controversial topics. She is still very active in politics and women’s rights women and thanks to her several activities she became the face of modern-day feminism. We all should be inspired by Gloria’s persevering efforts to improve the lives of women!
Written by Maria Trubanová, WAVE Intern
Sources:
https://www.biography.com/activist/gloria-steinem
