Gloria Steinem Lighted a Flame…May It Never Go Out
I'm just not ready to imagine a world without Gloria in it.
Gloria has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.
First, from afar when I was a teenager marching for the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion rights, and equal pay. She was a constant presence in my consciousness raising groups at university. We listened to her speeches and read everything we could find. As soon as the first issue of Ms. Magazine came out, I ran to the newsstand to buy it!
Years later, I was lucky enough to work alongside her on the boards of the Ms. Foundation, the ERA Coalition, a Call to Men, and through our Michael Stars collaboration on #TheTeeInVote campaign to raise voter awareness—encouraging women to exercise their right to vote and vote in every election not just presidential ones but local and state elections too.
It worked out well that I had fashion company and she was a fashionista! We shared a love of fashion and we always wore black.
On the day of our photo shoot for the campaign, we found out that New York was going on COVD lockdown! While people were fleeing the city, she was adamant, "I am coming to the studio!”
And because of her resolve, we were able to launch the campaign as planned.
Through all of that, we became real friends, discovering how much we had in common: our midwestern roots, our traveling salesman fathers, having lived in India, our love for equality, and even marriages to men from South Africa that lived in the same L.A. town!
She was a fellow "itinerant," as she called herself in her eighth book “My Life on the Road”.
My own feminism was broadened by my travels through India, Australia, Nepal, Liberia, Haiti, and others. In addition to living in India, Gloria visited so many other countries and traveled further and deeper into our own country. We both learned just how much women from all societies, cultures, and generations shared the same struggles, joys, and aspirations for themselves and their families.
And, we always felt there was always something to learn from someone else – no matter who they were or what they believed.
It was a bonus that she loved dogs! She would always ask me to bring my “feminist pup” Ms. Simba over to visit. We would just hang out over lunch or a chai latte at her home.
All of the memories, stories, praise, and love that you are hearing about Gloria—none of them are confined to just one generation.
Gloria was, is, and always will be relevant to generations of women, including those to come.
That enduring relevance is a combination of:
the wisdom of age
an open perspective
unparalleled listening skills and great empathy
an endless curiosity in others
the clarity of expression of a talented journalist
an incredibly wry and incisive sense of humor that could both disarm skeptics and inspire people to action.
While all of those things served to inspire generations of women from all cultures, there was something even more compelling…
She spent her whole life fighting for our rights. Even in the last decade of her life, as she watched some of those hard-fought rights rolled back, the one thing she never, ever lost was hope.
"I'm not a dreamer," she said. "I'm a hope-aholic."
"Hope is a form of planning…What you do everyday matters — what you say, what you encourage, what you oppose, what you imagine, what you love."
That's what she did every day. And she was clear about how she wanted us to continue on without her.
"I'm keeping my torch, thank you very much — and I'm using it to light the torches of others."
I said I wasn't ready to imagine a world without Gloria in it. I realize now I don't have to. Her hope lives on in every torch she lit—including mine.
For those of you who would like to honor her lifelong fight for equality, please consider a donation in her memory to the ERA Coalition https://www.eracoalition.org