Gloria Steinem was much more than just a fashion icon and an undercover Playboy bunny — she was one of the pioneering women in the fight for gender equality. When she began her fight, women were continuously used to being told “no.” They couldn’t apply for a credit card without a man’s approval, they couldn’t receive higher education at Ivy League schools, and they couldn’t even choose to be on birth control by their own volition. Steinem’s list of accomplishments is far from short, and many of our freedoms today were a direct result of her bravery and ambition.
In 1971, Steinem created Ms. magazine, the first magazine owned and operated by women. It did the unthinkable; it strayed from the normal house manager tips and strategies on how to attract an eligible bachelor. Her magazine focused on liberation, uplifting the voices of women, and shined a light on taboo topics such as abortion and domestic violence. In 1973, during an interview with BBC, she said “The one element that is the foundation of this magazine and makes it different from others is that it simply considers that women are human beings.” She not only wanted women to have a seat at the table, she wanted to reconstruct what that table was.
In 1972, Steinem’s magazine published a polarizing article “We Have Had Abortions.” A photograph depicting a woman dead, covered in blood after a back-alley abortion, accompanied a memorial piece for all the women who have died or suffered, as well as those who will continue to do so as a result of not having access to safe, lifesaving abortions. She included a petition of 53 prominent American women who supported the cause. Not all the women on the list had an abortion, but there was also a precedent that you weren’t allowed to ask who. “Anything that impacts a woman — has resonance and touches on the rights of one woman — impacts each and all of us, with each of us understanding that there was and still is strength in a constituency, which we were hoping to ignite,” Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, the original author of “We Have Had Abortions,” beautifully put as her response as to why it didn’t matter who had actually had an abortion because not having access posed a threat to all women. The original publication included slips for people to fill out to join the petition to legalize and destigmatize abortions.
This is just one example, among many, where Steinem’s desire to advocate overruled the status quo. She began her journalism career as a freelance writer in New York City in the 1950s. Already, this was a drastic change from the normal role that many women took as secretaries. When she would pitch ideas for political pieces, she would be told she wasn’t viewed in a political or serious manner. Despite that, she continued to write on taboo topics and developed a legacy on speaking about the unspoken atrocities in our society.
Among her other accolades, Steinem helped to found the Women’s Action Alliance, an organization that centered nonsexist and multiracial education for children, the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Women’s Media Center, and the Ms. Foundation for Women.
Steinem spent her life fighting for the rights of all women. She led marches, spoke all over the country, and inserted her beliefs of equality in every conversation that she was a part of. She died on Sept. 2, in her beloved New York City apartment at the age of 92. Over her 60-year professional career, she changed the way people spoke about reproductive rights, gender equality, and political representation.
When she was recently asked who she would be passing her torch to, she profoundly said, “I’m keeping my torch…, and I’m using it to light other torches because everybody needs a torch.” The fight of equality isn’t over and it’s up to everyone else to continue the fight and continue marching on the path she paved.