G-L-O-R-I-A
At Home in the World
During the Spring of 2013, I attended the charged atmosphere at UB Center for the Arts in Buffalo, a celebration and fundraiser to mark the 80th year of Planned Parenthood of Western New York—An Evening with Gloria Steinem.
The legendary featured speaker appeared as we know her—in her characteristic black attire and low-slung silver belt and long mane of hair, streaked with grey at age 79. An icon of the second wave of the women’s rights movement and known is as co-founder of Ms. magazine in 1972, the publication that translated the feminist movement into print at a time when assumptions about the role of women was being challenged. This is the cover of the very first issue…
My mother once gave me a subscription to the magazine as I moved into the world of independent life and work. A few years ago, I enjoyed reading Steinem’s 2016 memoir, My Life on the Road and watched the 2020 biopic based on her book.
Recently, I was fascinated to learn that Architectural Digest featured Steinem’s home in their December 2024 issue. While Virginia Woolf promoted the idea of a room of one’s own as the basis for a creative life, Gloria Steinem takes it a bit further—she has quite a townhouse in Manhattan. Still the icon at 90, she tells you all about her home in a video that you can watch here.
Gloria’s talk that evening twelve years ago revolved around reproductive freedom. She considers this to be the most important human right—one that had not yet been realized then. The headline Without Access, there is No Choice appeared on the cover of the Winter 2013 issue of Ms.
Here we are in 2025 with no solid assurances of Choice or the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that has also been tossed about for decades.
It’s not about biology—it’s about consciousness, Steinem emphasized. Raising awareness is always the beginning of intentional change.
We are linked not ranked.
She cautioned…as the population continues to diversify and the hold of white male hierarchy loosens, a potential for hostile response makes for dangerous times. A humanist at heart, always striving to live with purpose, the audience was reminded that women’s rights are simply human rights.
Gloria told the audience that she aspires to be here until age 100 and left them pondering her words…
I live in the future. If we understand the why of things, we can change it.
~~~~~~~~~
Copyright Pat Pendleton 2025. All Rights Reserved.