In her 2015 memoir My Life on the Road, Gloria Steinem talks about the 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston as a “before or after” in her life.
Today, the countless people who looked up to Steinem mark their own before and after, a world with and, sadly, without her.
Gloria Steinem, the groundbreaking feminist writer and activist, passed away on Wednesday, September 2, at the age of 92. According to an announcement posted to her social media, Steinem died peacefully at her New York City home of more than 50 years surrounded by loved ones.
Born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, Steinem grew up to be a journalist. It was this profession that led her to a “speak out” in 1969, at which women discussed their illegal abortions four years before Roe v. Wade changed the law of the land.
The event ignited a change in Steinem and soon she was taking part in protests for women’s equality, helping create shelters for women, and fighting for reproductive rights.
She dedicated My Life on the Road to Dr. John Sharpe of London, who took the “considerable risk of referring” 22-year-old Steinem for an abortion at a time when they were illegal in the U.K. for any reason other than the health of the woman.
The moving dedication reads, in part: “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 with my life. This book is for you.”
A life in words and action
Steinem valued the power of words to create change. In 1972, she launched Ms. Magazine, the first magazine in the U.S. to be completely created and owned by women. The feminist publication still exists today.
In the five-and-a-half decades since, Steinem has taken part in everything from the 1977 National Women’s Conference to the 2017 Women’s March on Washington.
She has continued to champion an inclusive idea of equality for all, supporting causes such as the Black Lives Matter movement and LGBTQ+ rights.
The world will not be the same without Steinem in it, but her monumental efforts and inspiring words will live on.
As she reminded us, “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist, nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.”
Below are just some of the many moving Steinem quotes worth remembering:
- “A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.”
- “Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”
- “We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons . . . but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters.”
- “The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”
- “A liberated woman is one who has sex before marriage and a job after.”
- “Writing is the only thing that when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.”
- “Empathy is the most radical of human emotions.”
- “None of us can be liberated if other groups are not.”
- “I’ve done the best I could with my life.”
Steinem’s latest book, An Unexpected Life, will be published on September 22 and is sure to bring even more captivating sentiments that will live alongside her incredible legacy.
