Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem was born on March 25, 1934 in Toledo, Ohio. Her mother was a newspaper woman and her father was an antique dealer and grandmother was Pauline Steinem, who was a member of the women's suffrage movement. Gloria's parents divorced when she was only eight and this led her mother into a complete stage of depression, leaving Gloria to not only care for herself but her mother as well. At the age of fifteen, she went to live with her sister in Washington, D.C. where Gloria eventually attended and graduated from Smith College in 1956. After graduating from college she decided to move to India to do research. While in India she realized how unjust our society was. After leaving India she began her career as a journalist, one of her first assignments was to write about Playboy, but in order for her to complete the assignment she had to actually become a Playboy Bunnie, which she did and finally finished her story. Feminism was brought to her attention when she was sent to write about a group called the Redstockings which was a women's liberation group. By 1970, Gloria Steinem was fully devoted to the women's liberation movement and helped form National Women's Political Caucus, which encouraged women's participation in the 1972 election. In addition to her encouragement, she helped bring attention to the lack of female representation in politics.

Some of Gloria's biggest accomplishments were the following: being a nationally known and well respected feminist, the founder and publisher of Ms. magazine (an American feminist magazine), she helped plan the women's agenda for the Democratic National Convention, the author of four widely used books, she is an advocate for children who have been sexually abused by their caretakers, she appeared in the documentary film, I Had an Abortion, by Jennifer Baumgardner and Gillian Aldrich where Gloria describes how she had an abortion. Gloria is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and she is on the board of Women's Voices. Women Vote. Throughout all of Gloria's accomplishments she has still been faced with challenges. In 1986 she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and in 1994 she developed trigeminal neuralgia.

Gloria Steinem, has led by example, she has made it possible for other women to follow in her footsteps. Not only has she herself made a positive difference in society but she brought certain issues to light allowing everyone to see how unjust things were. I personally have never heard of Gloria Steinem but after doing this I feel that I have gained a lot of knowledge about her life. I think that it is amazing that she has accomplished so much in her life. I think that Gloria can teach me as well as many others how to never give up. She was very dedicated and determined to accomplish her goals and although it may have been a struggle she still fought for what she believed in.

Remika Marshall

http://www.gale.com/free_resources/whm/bio/steinem_g.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Steinem