Gloria Steinem: A Rare Feminist Icon

Feminist icons are few and far between across the world and often, because feminisms remain local to the countries in which they develop and grow, icons rarely acquire international fame. Gloria Steinem, who passed away a few days ago, was an exception. Very much her own woman, Steinem was an activist, a seeker, a writer, a journalist, an organiser, an editor and so much more. At some point in her life, she famously became a ‘bunny’ in the world of Playboy magazine, in order to collect information to write a story about the exploitation of women. At another time, seeking answers to questions about the world, she spent a couple of years in India, inspired by Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan Movement, travelling across villages with activists and talking to and learning from men and women there. It was during these years that she also spent time—about a year—at Delhi University’s Miranda House. Among her friends in India, she counted the founder of SEWA, Ela Bhatt, and the economist Devaki Jain.

The founder of Ms magazine, the arrival of which in 1971 was greeted with considerable skepticism, but which went on to sell more than 300,000 copies of the first issue (later the numbers went up, and then plateaued), Steinem was also a central figure in the battle women’s groups in America waged in the seventies to get all states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The story of the mobilising and struggles around this issue, the internal differences between black and white feminists, the solidarities and differences between the women leaders, is brilliantly captured in a serial, Mrs. America, where skilled actors play the roles of leading feminists such as Steinem, Bella Abzug and others.

Steinem’s background was modest. A peripatetic existence, a father who did not make much money, a sister who went to college, a mother who became ill and had to be cared for. Steinem went on, however, to become an iconic feminist, standing up for many causes—fighting for the right to abortion, the importance of asking questions, creating listening circles in her home, being a fierce critic of marriage, speaking openly about her many relationships with wealthy and influential men.

Many of her positions on feminist and other political issues were, however, controversial. She famously called the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) an agency that was ‘liberal, non-violent and liberal’, and spoke in support of Bill Clinton when he faced strong criticism and allegations of sexual misconduct. As leading feminists in the US, she and Betty Friedan, the author of The Feminine Mystique, were often at odds with each other, a battle that was quite public and came to be seen less as one relating to ideological difference and more to power.

Most problematic was her position on sex work. She often referred to sex workers as ‘prostituted women’ and refused to believe they had any agency of their own, seeing them all as somehow being coerced into the profession. Her focus on sex workers being at the mercy of pimps also seemed to be a denial of the much changed nature of the profession. Because she was so influential, this sometimes translated into organisations where she was a strong voice, being reluctant to fund those working with sex workers. I often think that if her visits to India, a country she felt very close to, had brought her in contact with the National Network of Sex Workers, an organisation full of feisty, strong, outspoken, amazing women, she might have thought differently.

Steinem leaves behind a contested legacy: while some will celebrate her for all that she tried to do in her long and full life, others remain critical of the compromises she made, the controversial stances she took, and what these somewhat paradoxical circumstances mean for our feminisms today.

(The author is a feminist writer and director, Zubaan Publishers)

(Views expressed are personal)