Steinem had strong women role models as a child; her own grandmother, Pauline Perlmutter Steinem, had saved family members from the Holocaust and was the first woman on the board of education in Toledo, Ohio, making her one of the first Jewish women to hold public office. Steinem graduated magnum cum laude from Smith College—and in 1957, when she was 22, had an illegal abortion in England. She dedicated her 2015 book, My Life on the Road, to the doctor who performed the procedure, saying that at the time, he only asked that she not name him and that she would do what she wanted to do with her life, per The Wrap in 2020.Steinem wrote for Esquire, New York and Cosmopolitan magazines, among others, and eventually co-founded Ms. Magazine. For one piece, she posed undercover as a Playboy Bunny at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Club for a month, eventually exposing the way the women there were treated. She founded the National Women's Political Caucus to provide guidance and training for women who sought elected office and also started the Women's Action Alliance to support women activists and further feminist legislationWhile she never had biological children, she did marry at the age of 66. The lucky fella? David Bale, who just happened to be the father of Oscar winner Christian Bale. It was a small affair at sunrise at the home of Wilma Mankiller, the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. David Bale died of brain lymphoma in 2003, and Steinem currently lives alone in New York City's Upper East Side neighborhood. As she's gotten older, Steinem's battled breast cancer and won, all while continuing to speak out on women's issues. She was a major force in creating Take Our Daughters to Work Day, and in the 21st century, she, along with Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan, started the Women's Media Center to promote women in the media industry. She's been the subject of films like Mrs. America and The Glorias, and in 2021, even launched a Masterclass with others to "discuss the past and present of gender inequality in the United States and how we can make change for the future." Steinem has a birthday on March 25, 2024, when she'll turn 90 years old. To celebrate her, check out 50 of her most memorable quotations. She doesn't like to be misquoted; she once wrote TIME to tell them they had it all wrong when they quoted her as saying, "Women need men like fish need a bicycle." The credit for the concept, she said in a letter in 2000, belonged to Australian educator Irina Dunn: "Dunn deserves credit for creating such a popular and durable spoof of the old idea that women need men more than vice versa."Keep reading for 50 Gloria Steinem quotes that'll make you think.Related: 200 Inspirational Quotes To Keep You Inspired—You Can Do Hard Things!
Best Gloria Steinem Quotes
1. "A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men."2. "I began to understand that self-esteem isn't everything; it's just that there's nothing without it."3. "Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself."4. On the fight for equality today: "It's not so good when we say to kids, You can be anything you want,' because it's not true. Much better to say, You should be able to be anything you want.'"5. "In a general way, women become more radical as they get older. The pattern is that women are conservative when they're young. That's when there's the most pressure on us to conform, when we're potential child bearers and sex objects. And we lose power when we get older. Which is a very radicalizing experience."6. "Planning ahead is a measure of class. The rich and even the middle-class plan for future generations, but the poor can plan ahead only a few weeks or days."7. "America is an enormous frosted cupcake in the middle of millions of starving people."8. "The truth is that all our problems stem from the same sex-based myths. We may appear before you as white radicals or the middle-aged middle class or black soul sisters, but we are all sisters in fighting against these outdated myths."9. "Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie."10. "I assumed that I would have to marry the man I wanted to become."11. "The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn. We are filled with popular wisdom of several centuries just past, and we are terrified to give it up."Related: 150 Famous Feminist Quotes
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13. "Revolutions that last don't happen from the top down. They happen from the bottom up."
15. "Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke...She will need her sisterhood."
17. "Men should think twice before making widowhood women's only path to power."
19. "Childbirth is more admirable than conquest, more amazing than self-defense and as courageous as either one."
21. "We need to remember across generations that there is as much to learn as there is to teach."
23. "When the past dies, there is mourning, but when the future dies, our imaginations are compelled to carry it on."
25. "So what would happen if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate and women could not?…Street guys would invent slang ('He's a three-pad man') and 'give fives' on the corner with some exchange like, 'Man, you lookin' good!' 'Yeah, man, I'm on the rag!'
27. "The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving."
Related: 45 Quotes From the Underground Railroad Operator and Future Face of the $20 Bill, Harriet Tubman
Inspiring Gloria Steinem Quotes
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30. "If you are not a feminist, male or female, you are looking at the world with one eye open."
32. "When we started to get serious opposition, I thought we were getting somewhere."
34. "If you say, I'm for equal pay, that's a reform. But if you say, I'm a feminist, that's a transformation of society."
36. "We'll never solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth."
Related: Happy Women's History Month! Learn More About Its Backstory and Celebration
Motivational Gloria Steinem Quotes
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39. "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off."
41. "If the shoe fits, mustn't we change the foot?"
43. "So whatever you want to do, just do it…Making a d**n fool of yourself is absolutely essential."
44. "I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career."
Powerful Quotes From Gloria Steinem
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46. "I never wanted to be a politician or elected person myself, so I loved to work for other women who did—and hope that more girls will do that. The problem is the feeling that we're divided from politics, that our vote doesn't count or what we do doesn't count. In fact, everything we do counts."
48. "Being married is like having somebody permanently in your corner. It feels limitless, not limited."
50. "I've been using my torch to light other peoples' torches. Because the whole idea that there's only one torch is part of the reason why we're so f***** up. Everybody needs a torch."
Related: 40 Dolores Huerta Quotes on Life, Community and Peace
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