Time 23Mar2020

(Frankie) #1
Time March 16–23, 2020

1970s

STEINEM, CENTER, AT THE WOMEN’S
STRIKE FOR EQUALITY IN AUGUST 1970


1970


Gloria Steinem


Women’s-liberation leader


By 1970, Gloria Steinem was already
becoming a key voice in the women’s


movement through her reporting for
New York magazine. But that year, her ac-


tivism left the page in a momentous way.
Though she was afraid of public speak-
ing, Steinem did it anyway. That May, she


testified at Senate hearings for the Equal
Rights Amendment. “I have been refused
service in public restaurants, ordered


out of public gathering places and turned
away from apartment rentals,” she told
her almost all-male audience. “All for


the clearly stated, sole reason that I am
a woman.” At the Women’s Strike for


Equality on Aug. 26, the 50th anniver-
sary of U.S. women’s suffrage, Steinem
spoke to some 20,000 in New York City.


Her increasing dedication sparked her to
launch a feminist platform: in 1971, she
co-founded Ms. magazine.


With a remarkable ability to com-
municate the agenda she helped set,


Steinem quickly evolved from journalist
to the face of the women’s movement—
the headline speaker at countless pro-


tests; the messenger of a more equal,
feminist future; and an indispensable
force in reimagining the fate of American


women for decades to come.
ÑEliana Dockterman


66

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