Sisterhood. Feminism. Women's Liberation. Ms. These are not terms Gloria Steinem invented but they are closely associated with her and will be for a very long time. Steinem, who will be the guest speaker at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts lecture series, is to women what someone like Paul Newman was to men—a humble, successful person who leads by example. Steinem will be here as part of The Center's ongoing multidisciplinary project, "Domestic Life."
Her Jan. 14 talk, however, is sold out.
"It may seem odd to link the most famous feminist in the world with a project about the home, but you can't separate feminism from conversations about domesticity and women's traditional role as keepers of the home," said Britt Udesen, The Center's director of humanities and education. "Gloria is the perfect person to address the current state of feminism, the complications of trying to be a superwoman and the new ways we define domesticity."
Indeed, Steinem has spoken on the subject often.
She once said: "Someone asked me why women don't gamble as much as men do, and I gave the commonsensical reply that we don't have as much money. That was a true and incomplete answer. In fact, women's total instinct for gambling is satisfied by marriage."
Steinem's own lessons about home and domesticity began early, on the road.
"My father (a traveling antiques dealer) was a kind of gypsy," she said.
The family lived in a trailer and her mother, who had been a newspaper editor but gave it up at her husband's insistence, acted as her tutor. After her parents divorced when she was 8, she lived in poverty with her mother in Toledo, Ohio.
But her mother had several breakdowns and was hospitalized often. Steinem graduated from Smith College in 1956 (Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude), and won a fellowship to study in India for two years.
In the early 1960s she began her journalism career. She gained attention for an exposé she wrote for "Show" magazine called, "I Was a Playboy Bunny," and in the late '60s she was invited by New York magazine founder and editor Clay Felker to write a column, "The City Politic."
In 1971 she joined other prominent feminists, such as Bella Abzug and Betty Friedan, in forming the National Women's Political Caucus. And with Felker's support began Ms. magazine as an insert in New York magazine. Its first independent issue appeared in January 1972 with Steinem as the founding editor.
Steinem became a best-selling author with books that include "Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions," "Revolution From Within: A Book of Self-Esteem," "Doing Sixty," and "Moving Beyond Words." In recent years she has turned her activism and pen toward the issues of domestic violence and its far-reaching effects.
"We need to make connections, and understand that violence in the home leads to violence on the street and in the country," she said. "If violence is normalized in upbringing, it seems normal in the rest of life. We haven't made that connection. We tend to treat domestic violence as separate.
"When I speak on campuses I ask if child rearing and family are connected to national politics. The answer is always no. The first is viewed as feminine and the second as masculine. But the kinds of families you have deeply influence the kind of government you have. It's a change sometimes of linguistics."
To wit: In its final days the Bush administration is trying to push through 90 new regulatory changes, including a proposed "Provider Conscience" rule, which has the potential to severely restrict women's access to birth control and other reproductive health services. It has already been approved by the Office for Management and Budget. In effect, it means that federally financed health-care providers may legally refuse to offer patients' choices about procedures and or medications, based on the provider's conscience. The new rule also redefines abortion to cover hormonal contraception.
"If they declare that a fertilized egg is a person, many forms of birth control would be outlawed too," Steinem said. "But it all comes under the banner of reproductive freedom. That's a very dire consequence."
A related issue Steinem feels strongly about is the way in which Americans deal with work and how that affects home life.
"How can we change the job pattern, so we have shorter work days and work weeks for parents of young children?" Steinem asked. "The first step is to realize that it's not just women but men too. How can we push this politically so that men can be full-time parents too. We are still the only advanced country with no parental leave. Everyone has to answer these questions.
"Scandinavian countries are probably the most advanced there. They're not there yet either, but it's been a fairly long period of time that both parents can have time off. Europeans in general are more advanced, as are Canada, Australia and New Zealand."
So tireless has Steinem been on behalf of working parents that Parenting magazine selected her for its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995 for her work in promoting girls' self-esteem. Through the Ms. Foundation, she helped create Take Our Daughters to Work Day more than 15 years ago.
Steinem has won many awards for her work as a journalist and activist, including the Bill of Rights Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the Ceres Medal from the United Nations. In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Lecture Series
What: Presentation of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts
When: Wednesday, Jan. 14, 7 p.m.
Where: Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood, Ketchum.
Tickets: Sold Out.
Gloria Steinem Photo by
