Time March 16–23, 20201970sSTEINEM, 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
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