Gloria Steinem

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Lore & Background

Gloria Steinem was born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, to Ruth and Leo Steinem. Her mother was Presbyterian, mostly of German and some Scottish descent. Her father was Jewish, the son of immigrants from Württemberg, Germany, and Radziejów, Poland. Her paternal grandmother, Pauline Perlmutter Steinem, chaired the educational committee of the National Woman Suffrage Association, was a delegate to the 1908 International Council of Women, and was the first woman elected to the Toledo Board of Education. Steinem's mother suffered a 'nervous breakdown' before Gloria was born, leaving her an invalid, and her parents separated when Steinem was ten. Steinem later concluded that her mother's inability to hold a job reflected broader hostility toward working women, and that doctors' apathy toward her mother stemmed from similar anti-woman animus. These perspectives convinced Steinem that women lacked social and political equality. Steinem attended Smith College, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1956. In 1957, she had an illegal abortion performed by Dr. John Sharpe in London, an experience she later described as 'the first time I had taken responsibility for my own life.' She spent two years in India as a Chester Bowles Asian Fellow, influenced by Mahatma Gandhi. After returning, she served as director of the Independent Research Service, an organization funded in secret by the CIA. In 1963, she worked as a Playboy Bunny for an article for Show magazine titled 'A Bunny's Tale,' detailing exploitative working conditions. In 1969, she covered an abortion speak-out for New York magazine that she said began her active feminist life: 'I didn't begin my life as an active feminist until that day.'

Reader's Guide

Gloria Steinem's significance lies in her role as a central figure in second-wave feminism, using journalism and activism to advance women's rights. Her 1969 article 'After Black Power, Women's Liberation' brought national attention, and she co-founded Ms. magazine in 1972 alongside founding editors including Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Mary Thom, and Patricia Carbine; its 300,000 test copies sold out nationwide in eight days, and within weeks Ms. had received 26,000 subscription orders and more than 20,000 reader letters. She also co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971 to support women seeking elected and appointed office, and the Women's Action Alliance, which until 1997 supported a network of feminist activists. In the 1990s, she helped establish Take Our Daughters to Work Day. In 2005, Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Robin Morgan co-founded the Women's Media Center. In 2015, Steinem, alongside two Nobel Peace laureates (Mairead Maguire and Leymah Gbowee) and other prominent women peace activists, undertook a journey from Pyongyang, North Korea, to South Korea, crossing the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Her legacy includes framing 'reproductive freedom' as a phrase that 'includes the freedom to have children or not to.'

Did You Know?

• Steinem's paternal grandmother, Pauline Perlmutter Steinem, was the first woman elected to the Toledo Board of Education and rescued many family members from the Holocaust by securing passage for them to Palestine.
• In 1963, Steinem worked undercover as a Playboy Bunny for an article titled 'A Bunny's Tale,' and after its publication, Hugh Hefner wrote a letter stating he would remove requirements for Bunnies to get gynecological exams and STD testing.
• Steinem's 1978 essay 'If Men Could Menstruate' imagined a world where men menstruate, concluding that menstruation would become a badge of honor rather than a source of shame.
• In 1972, Steinem became the first woman to speak at the National Press Club.
• Steinem dedicated her memoir My Life on the Road (2015) to Dr. John Sharpe, who performed her illegal abortion in 1957, writing that 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.'