Women Who Made History: Gloria Steinem
How can we sum up an icon such as Gloria Steinem? It’s virtually impossible, considering how much she has done to help shape the roles of women in history. In short, Steinem is a feminist, political activist, author, editor, and all-around advocate for equality and women’s liberation. Maybe most importantly, Steinem has stood up against what she saw as social punishment for career-driven women and helped to change some views about “what a woman should be.”
Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes
Above: Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes
Steinem has credited her mother as the person who helped her understand the social injustices a woman must face in her lifetime. When Steinem was a child, she says her father demanded that her mother give up her career as a teacher, and because of this, her mother had a nervous breakdown, which led her to become mentally ill. Because of these circumstances, Steinem became thoroughly interested in issues of social and political equality. This led her to the topic of her first article while at Esquire magazine in 1962, which dealt with how women are forced to choose between a career and marriage and can never have both.
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