Born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, Gloria Marie Steinem had an
unusual childhood. Her mother, Ruth Nuneviller Steinem, suffered from
psychological illness and her father, Leo Steinem, worked as a traveling
antiques dealer and small-time resort operator. Though well-intentioned
parents, they were unable to provide a stable home life for Gloria and
her older sister, Susan.
Because the Steinems traveled so often, Gloria did not attend school regularly
until age ten. Instead, her mother, who had a teaching certificate, tutored
Gloria while they were on the road and instilled in her a deep respect for books
and a love of reading. Still, Gloria missed out on the companionship that daily
elementary school provides. Her favorite childhood memories were of summers
spent at the resort, where she played with her friends and learned to tap dance.
But this last and only trace of a carefree childhood ended when the family
split up in 1944. Mr. Steinem moved to California to work, Susan went off to
Smith College in Massachusetts, and Gloria and her mother moved to Toledo, Ohio.
Though life was trying in Toledo, Gloria did well in school. She had both boy
and girl friends through high school and stayed active in tap dancing and in the
local Eagles Club. Like her father, Gloria had show business dreams. Though she
planned to go to college, she assumed she would eventually become a Rockette,
dancing at the famous Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
In her senior year of high school, Gloria's life changed. Her sister, realizing
how ill their mother was, arranged for Gloria to move to Washington, D.C., with her
while their father agreed to take care of Ruth for the year. With the pressure
of caring for her mother lifted, Gloria flourished. She was elected vice president
of her graduating class and did so well in her studies that she was accepted to
Smith College, where Susan had gone.
Entering in 1952, Gloria was deeply affected by her time at Smith College. She was not
only impressed by the beauty of the wooded, stately campus but also inspired and
challenged by the intellectual activity going on there. A highly reputable women's college,
Smith provided Gloria with the safe and stable environment she had never known as a
child. The availability of books was "heaven" for her, and the diversity of students was
educational (Henry, p. 24). The more privileged students taught Gloria the fine arts and
helped improve her French grammar, while Gloria, in turn, provided practical knowledge
about daily living and won over her classmates with her independence. Once ashamed of her
family and upbringing, Gloria learned at Smith that her background was an advantage.
The experience led her to advise others: "Don't worry about your background; whether
it's odd or ordinary, use it, build on it" (Steinem in Henry, p. 23). This is exactly
what she began to do in college.
Ruth was very ill and was unable to care for herself, Gloria realized that her mother's
illness was never taken seriously precisely because she was a woman and "her functioning
was not necessary to the world" (Steinem, p. 133). Gloria became determined to
make women's functioning necessary to the world and to address their concerns.
Just as her mother was emerging as a separate person, Gloria Steinem was emerging
as an activist for women's rights.
Steinem realized that women were oppressed as a class and a sex and that she shared
much in common with millions of other women who had also had abortions (as she had in college).
This was a shocking revelation and a major turning point in Steinem's life.
She had not before realized that such a majority of women felt oppressed by
society and that so many had suffered as a result of restrictive government
policies on abortion and other issues. Now well versed in political activity
and organization, she turned her attention to promoting women's interests.
Steinem's entire literary focus shifted to exploring the current women's
liberation movement and explaining the theories of "new feminism" to a wide
audience. She traced the roots of the early women's rights movement to Sarah
and Angelina Grimk‚ (see biography). Sisters, they began as abolitionists and
found that working for civil rights for women was necessary too: "The sex and
race caste systems are very intertwined and the revolutions have always come
together, whether it was the suffragist and abolitionist movements or whether it's
the feminist and civil rights movements. They must come together because one can't
succeed without the other" (Steinem in Gilbert, p. 164).
she marched with thousands of women — young and old, black and white — in
the New York City Women's Strike For Equality and struck a friendship with
Dorothy Pitman Hughes, an African American who founded one of the first community
day care centers for working mothers in New York. Hughes greatly influenced
Steinem's development as a feminist leader.
She urged Steinem to speak publicly to promote women's equality, and together
the two set out on a speaking tour of the nation. Calling for legalized abortion,
equal pay for equal work, and passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, which would
outlaw sex discrimination, Steinem and Hughes made a tremendous impact on society.
Crossing racial and class barriers, they were able to attract support from women
and men throughout the nation. The two formed the Women's Action Alliance to develop
women's educational programs and in 1971 planned to publish their own magazine.
Run by women for women, it was to be a forum for feminist issues. They named it
Ms. and put out the first issue in January 1972.
Believing that women have "gotten where we are today ... mainly through individual
women telling the truth," Steinem decided she must add her personal story to
the national abortion debate (Gilbert, p. 163). In 1972, with the country locked
in heated debate over whether or not abortion should be legal, Steinem announced
publicly that she was one of millions who had an illegal abortion, and she called
on the Supreme Court and federal government to make the choice legal. In addition,
she coined the phrase "reproductive freedom" to signify that what women were asking
for was choice, or "the right to decide whether or not to have a baby" (Henry, p. 76).
Because of Steinem's strong personal stand and that of others like her, public
sentiment shifted to "pro-choice." In 1973 the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade
legalized abortion.
Though Steinem was popular among most feminists, she received a lot of criticism:
"I've been attacked viciously on a personal level for my ideas. It makes you want
to go home and cry and never do anything again... what's harder for all of us
[feminists] to take is attacks by other women who appear to believe the same
things we do.... It's self-hatred" (Steinem in Gilbert, p. 165).
Steinem truly hoped that her efforts would help promote a "sisterhood"
among all women, regardless of political party, race, religion, or economic
status. She defined feminism as simply "the belief that women are full human
beings" (Steinem in Gilbert, p. 167). In Steinem's view, feminism was asking
a basic question: Why do people have to assume that one group has to dominate
the other? Why not assume there will be cooperation instead of domination?
For her accomplishments, Steinem was named Woman of the Year in 1972 by McCall's
magazine. Since then, Steinem has continued to write, speak, and contribute to
Ms. magazine. She has been a founder of several organizations, including the
Ms. Foundation for Women, the National Women's Political Caucus (a nonpartisan
organization that promotes pro equality women candidates), and the Coalition
of Labor Union Women. In the fall of 1993, Steinem — who describes her greatest
accomplishments as "making a difference" and giving birth to ideas (Steinem, p. 11)
— was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.
Steinem continued to speak and write extensively. In 1983 she published her first
book, "Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions".
"Revolution From Within": A Book of Self-Esteem was published in 1992.
In 1997, Steinem spoke out against the movie The People vs. Larry Flynt
in a New York Times editorial.
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