Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem is a writer, lecturer, political activist, and feminist organizer who became nationally recognized as a leader and a spokeswoman for the feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Steinem was born on March 25, 1934 in Toledo, Ohio. Her paternal grandmother, Pauline Perlmutter Steinem, was chairwoman of the educational committee of the National Woman Suffrage Association, a delegate to the 1908 International Council of Women, and the first woman to be elected to the Toledo Board of Education. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College in 1956, and then spent two years in India on a Chester Bowles Fellowship.

In 1968, she had helped to found New York magazine, where she was a political columnist and wrote feature articles. As a freelance writer, she was published in Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, and women's magazines. She co-founded Ms. magazine in 1972, remained one of its editors for fifteen years and continues to serve as a consulting editor. Her books include the bestsellers "My Life on the Road," "Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem," "Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions," "Moving Beyond Words," and "Marilyn: Norma Jean," on the life of Marilyn Monroe, and in India, "As If Women Matter." Her writing also appears in many anthologies and textbooks, and she was an editor of Houghton Mifflin's "The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History."

Steinem helped to found the Women's Action Alliance and the National Women's Political Caucus. She also co-founded the Women's Media Center in 2004. She was president and co-founder of Voters for Choice, that merged with the Planned Parenthood Action Fund for the 2004 elections. She was co-founder and serves on the board of Choice USA (now URGE). She is the founding president of the Ms. Foundation for Women and a founder of its Take Our Daughters to Work Day. She was a member of the Beyond Racism Initiative. She is currently working with the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College on documenting the grassroots origins of the U.S. women's movement, and on a Center for Organizers in tribute to Wilma Mankiller, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.

In 1993, Steinem was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. In 2014, she received The Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal Award and in 2013, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Sources:

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (1998, July 20). “Gloria Steinem” Britannica. Retrieved November 28, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gloria-Steinem

Equality Now (n.d.). “Gloria Steinem (USA)” Equality Now. Retrieved November 28, 2022. https://www.equalitynow.org/staff_members/gloria-steinem-usa/

Karbo, K. (2019, March 25). “How Gloria Steinem became the 'world’s most famous feminist'” National Geographic. Retrieved November 28, 2022. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/how-gloria-steinem-became-worlds-most-famous-feminist

Michals, D. (2017). “Gloria Steinem” National Women's History Museum. Retrieved November 28, 2022. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/gloria-steinem

National Women's Hall of Fame (n.d.). “Gloria Steinem” National Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved November 28, 2022. https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/gloria-steinem/

Office of Gloria Steinem (n.d.). “About” Gloria Steinem. Retrieved November 28, 2022. http://www.gloriasteinem.com/about

Pogrebin, L. C. (2009, March 20). “Gloria Steinem” Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved November 28, 2022. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/steinem-gloria