Time_23Mar2020

Time March 16–23, 2020

ENDNOTE

in The half-cenTury since i wroTe The essay below,

as part of a cover story on “The Politics of Sex,” there has

been some definite progress. “Women’s issues” are no longer

in a silo but are understood as fundamental to everything.

For instance, the single biggest determinant of whether

a country is violent, or will use military violence against

another country, is not poverty, natural resources, religion

or even degree of democracy; it is violence against women.

And since racial separation can’t be perpetuated in the long

run without controlling reproduction—and thus women’s

bodies—racism and sexism are intertwined and can only be

uprooted together.

A belief in equality, without division by sex or race, is

50 YEARS AGO IN TIME

ANNOTATIONS FROM THE FUTURE

BY GLORIA STEINEM

now held by a huge majority in public- opinion polls. But

a stubborn minority of Americans feel deprived of the

unearned privilege of that old hierarchy and are in revolt.

The time of greatest danger comes after a victory, and that’s

where we are now. Many of the predictions of my 50-year-old

essay about the future hold up, but there are a few lessons

I’ve learned since then (including to negotiate a writing fee

beforehand, since my agent later told me I was paid less than

male contributors).

I won’t be around when these words are read 50 years

from now, but I have faith in you who will be.

Steinem is a writer and feminist organizer

‘Increased
skilled labor
might lead to
a four-hour
workday’
As people look
at screens
more than at
one another,
the opposite
has happened;
the workday
never ends

‘A divorce could be

treated the same way

that the dissolution

of a business

partnership is now’

Once domestic labor

is accorded the same

value as salaried work

‘Half the teachers

will be men’

Not until we start

paying public-school

teachers as much

as every other

democracy does

‘With women
as half the
country’s elected
representatives,
and a woman
President once
in a while’
With Trump as
a backlash to
Obama, almost any
woman President
would be a relief

‘Thus

Women’s Lib

may achieve a

more peaceful

society on the

way toward

its other

goals’

The relationship

between

violence

against females

and all violence

other than self-

defense should

inform our

foreign policy

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