Gloria Steinem never held elected office. She never ran for one, never seemed particularly interested in pursuing power inside the governing systems she strove so hard to change. Steinem was, over the course of her lifelong activism, a beacon of the manner in which Americans can shape their nation for the better, without ever having to put their name on a ballot.
Steinem died on Monday at the age of 92, after nearly seven decades as a leading figure in the women’s liberation movement, and a defining voice of American feminism. A writer, journalist, organizer, and activist, Steinem’s life was defined by a commitment to embodying one’s politics in service of others. She was often motivated by a deep rage at the injustices around her, and like every great icon of the civil rights movement before her, died with unfinished business on the table.
The politics of womanhood are perhaps in their most regressive moment since the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The nation is governed by a far right political party intent on reimposing traditionalist gender dynamics and restricting women’s independence. The right to reproductive freedom has been burned out of federal law. The conservative movement openly endorses the elimination of hard won victories like no fault divorce, equal employment and opportunity protections, and access to birth control. They proudly proclaim support for male-controlled household voting, and see women’s departure from compulsory homemaking as one of the roots of social rot. The whole thing is headed by a president accused of sexual assault and misconduct by dozens of women over the course of his life.
And yet, the foundation built by Steinem and her contemporaries — Shirley Chisholm, Betty Friedan, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Bella Azbug — continues to stand. If anything, Steinem was proven correct when she wrote that her years of political activism had left her with “one clear message: Voting isn’t the most we can do, but it is the least. To have a democracy, you have to want one.”
Steinem was clear that the ballot you cast is a cyclical affirmation of the values and community that took full time commitment and desire to build. Even in her final years, Steinem continued to host her famed “talking circles” at her home to discuss politics and culture with other women in a communal setting. Her most well known endeavor in that vein was her role as co-founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971. The organization recruited, trained, and supported women candidates for elected office across the country, and have seen generations of women enter political office at the state and national level.
Steinem is credited as an inspiring influence by some of the most prominent female politicians, academics, and creatives in American political history.
Former Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton told MS NOW in response to news of her passing that Steinem had been the reason she first began wearing aviator glasses, adding that she and the activist had become closer later in life and that the loss was “personal” to her.
“She wasn’t going to be an astronaut, but she made it possible for Sally Ride to be an astronaut. She wasn’t going to play college sports, but she stood behind the women in Congress who passed Title IX. And she wasn’t on the Supreme Court when Roe v. Wade was decided, but her voice and her activism was behind that advancement for women’s rights,” Clinton wrote. “Gloria Steinem pushed open doors not just for herself, but for literally millions of women behind.”
Oprah Winfrey wrote in her own tribute that “Every woman who has ever walked into a room knowing she belongs there; every woman who has demanded equal pay, equal respect, ownership of her own body, and the right to make her own choices; every girl who has grown up assuming that her dreams are hers to pursue — whether she knows Gloria Steinem’s name or not — is living, in some measure, inside the progress Gloria helped create.”
Many more young women will likely learn her name today. They might read her writing or watch her many speeches and seminars, they might encounter her organizations and activism if they ever choose to run for office. They will experience the fruits of the movement she helped build even if they never knew her face.
In the face of a far right movement that seeks to wrench the hard won gains made by generations of women who fought to drag the nation one step closer to gender equality, it’s up to each new generation to continue the struggle.
It’s a “myth” that “that women of the Seventies did all that could or should be done, and young women can now relax; feminism was their mothers’ movement […] such deep changes take time,” she wrote in a 2014 essay for Ms. Magazine — which she founded — titled “Why Our Revolution Has Just Begun.”
“At my age, in this still hierarchical time, people often ask me if I’m ‘passing the torch.’ I explain that I’m keeping my torch, thank you very much—and I’m using it to light the torches of others,” she wrote. “Only if each of us has a torch will there be enough light.”
