March is Women’s History Month, and The College of New Jersey took planning events for this month very seriously. The kick-off to this incredible month was a visit from Gloria Steinem: author, lecturer, political activist, and feminist icon.
I feel like I can speak for others in the audience when I say that when Gloria Steinem walked on stage, I felt an immediate sense of honor and gratitude just to be in the presence of someone who has done so much in the Civil Rights and feminist movements.
Gloria Steinem co-founded Ms. magazine in 1972. After running the feminist magazine for 15 years Steinem became a best-selling author and activist for women’s rights around the world. Steinem’s books include: Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, Moving Beyond Words, Marilyn: Norma Jean, and As If Women Matter. To mention just a few more of Steinem’s accomplishments, she was one of the founders of the Women’s Action Alliance and the National Women’s Political Caucus, co-founder of the Women’s Media Center in 2004, president and co-founder of Voters for Choice, co-founder of Choice USA (now known as URGE), and the founding president of the Ms. Foundation for Women. To be able to say that those are only SOME of her accomplishments takes my breath away.
So…after talking a little bit about how much Gloria Steinem has done for women all around the world, it should be understood that being in the same room as her made me pinch myself to make sure it wasn’t a dream.
Steinem opened up by saying that our fight [as feminists] continues. We must continue to strive for equality, not only for ourselves but for individuals across the globe. Although certain issues may not pertain to us, all issues of inequality become our own. We may not see the oppression face to face that many minority populations across the world face, but we must still continue this fight for them.
Steinem spoke a lot about Native American tribes and how gender used to be viewed in their culture . She explained that Native American tribes did not have gender pronouns, and they did not have these strict gender norms. “People were people…what a concept huh?“
Steinem argued about this strict hierarchy system that people believe they need to follow. “The paradigm for most of history was a circle,” Steinem said, “we were linked not ranked…It gives me hope that, of course in a different way because we can’t go back, but we will get to this again”.
Steinem presented research that examined the self esteem of high school valedictorians. This study included different genders and noted that women’s self esteem goes down significantly with each additional year of higher education. Why? Because women study their absence in history. Unless the course is a Women and Gender Study course or African American History class then women and minorities are invisible.
From the point of view of deprivation, women and men are both deprived of certain human qualities and characteristics. We are all just trying to become whole, and that is why we must all support each other. Steinem explained how all social justice movements are connected to each other. Injustice must be uprooted together. For example, sex and race are two things that are so intertwined and the only way for there to be any progress the two must be uprooted together. This is just one of the many examples that can be made about different causes or different movements being connected.
Because of all of these different social justice movements, we are the majority now. Everyone is working towards a greater good. There are forces against us, but we can overpower those forces by standing together and supporting one another.
At the end of Steinem’s empowering lecture, she opened the session for questions. Steinem was asked what the next generation of feminists should do, where should they start? Steinem’s answer? “Wherever the hell they want.” She then went on to discuss how girls should be speaking out and fighting for what they want, what matters to them. There is no right or wrong, there is no defined starting point, as long as they choose to start somewhere.
Steinem’s last question was: “How do you react to someone who does not identify themselves as a feminist”, and to that she responded “I send them to a dictionary!” She then continued to say that for some reason people dislike the word “feminist”, but they truly do not understand that feminism strives for the equality of all, however she respects that some people choose to call themselves something else and she does not want to force the word onto anyone.
She closed by reading the dedication in her most recent book to us:
“Dr. John Sharpe of London, who in 1957, a decade before physicians in England could legally perform an abortion for any reason other than the health of the woman, took the considerable risk of referring for an abortion a twenty-two-year-old American on her way to India.
Knowing only that she had broken an engagement at home to seek an unknown fate, he said, ‘You must promise me two things. First, you will not tell anyone my name. Second, you will do what you want to do with your life.’
Dear Dr. Sharpe, I believe you, who knew the law was unjust, would not mind if I say this so long after your death:
I’ve done the best I could do with my life.
This book is for you.”
As I started off saying…being in the same room as Gloria Steinem was an honor, and all of us at TCNJ are so thankful for her coming to speak with us.
Thank you Gloria Steinem, for using your torch to light all of ours.
Sources: