If you are single a woman with a credit card, you have Bella Abzug to thank. If Bella were still with us, she would be President — she certainly deserved to be. From her time in Congress ushering in important legislation from Title IX to the Equal Credit Opportunity, to her enormous presence around the world, Bella wasn’t just a force, she was the wind. I’m so happy @masterclass gave me a moment to honor her and to make sure her work and legacy isn’t lost–neither its place in our daily life today or how we shape the daily lives of our tomorrows.
Forty-eight years ago, I was marching down Fifth Avenue to commemorate the first United Nations-declared International Women’s Year 1975. Over 50 feminist coalitions banded together to express our demands, which included equal job opportunities and equitable wages, universal childcare, reproductive rights, civil rights for lesbians, freedom for political prisoners, and the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Nearly 50 years later, we are still marching and demanding these rights, and also still working closely in coalition across all social justice movements.
Zambia has been good to me.
As a little girl, books were my escape. I didn’t attend school until I was 10, so I would read anything I could get my hands on from the local library. Now at 88, I’ve achieved my dream of having a library ladder and shelves filled with books that I love, sorted by categories like “Women’s History” and “Written by Friends.” That’s why this creative project, a Bookscape photograph of my bookshelves, is truly a project of the heart.
In this age of Zooming, I’ve noticed that most people are seen in front of their bookcases, and we peer around to see what books we might learn from. I hope even one of the books on my shelves piques your curiosity.
The artist Max-Steven Grossman photographed the bookshelves in my home and created this work of art, and in partnership with @spondergallery launched it at Art Miami Context. It is for sale now and proceeds are generously being donated to Gloria’s Foundation, which will preserve my home and these bookshelves for future generations of activists. The link for more details is in my bio.
On the 60th birthday of my dear friend @therealmariskahargitay I was reminded of this poem I wrote when I turned 60. Hoping it can be a source of inspiration (or at least laughter) for her and anyone making this decade!
On the 60th birthday of my dear friend @therealmariskahargitay I was reminded of this poem I wrote when I turned 60. Hoping it can be a source of inspiration (or at least laughter) for her and anyone making this decade!
Harry Belafonte gave the world the incomparable gift of his voice. In art and activism, Harry’s legacy is one of courage, talent, wisdom and joy. As we march onward in pursuit of racial justice and global human rights, his voice will comfort us.
The future is now… and it’s in my living room!
Though this New York Times headline is from January 10, 1993, it remains true today.
Last week I met Dr. Adva Gutman-Tirosh, an orthopedic surgeon, whose sister, Tamar, was recently murdered. A sobering truth in these and all times of war: rape continues to be used as a weapon of war.
Adva shared with me that when she finally saw photos of her late sister, her first thought was, “At least her pants are on.” Those are and have been the realities of war, but they don’t have to be.
All readers, even the youngest ones, deserve libraries that represent them. I urge everyone to watch The ABCs of Book Banning. The voices featured, from brave and curious schoolchildren to 101-year-old activist Grace Linn, remind us that restrictions on what we read are restrictions to our freedom.
Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder’s witty ability to make complex issues understandable was a model for other candidates, from dubbing Reagan “the Teflon President” to giving advice such as, “You can’t wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time — pick one.” When contributions failed to reach $1 million in her 1988 presidential campaign, however, she withdrew in a tearful speech that got almost as much publicity as her whole campaign; a forerunner of the attention that Hillary Clinton would get for merely tearing up. Schroeder was seen as too emotional, and Clinton was seen as manipulative.
Still, from what I observed as I traveled the country, Schroeder had introduced humor and humanity into a presidential campaign, and that helped other women to imagine themselves in politics. Women’s lives, and all of our lives in this country, are better for having been touched by Patricia’s courage and leadership.
Photo credit: Duane Howell/The Denver Post
Ninety years ago, on March 25, 1934, Gloria Steinem was born. Her parents celebrated with this special birth announcement. Today, we have more reason to celebrate: the birth of Gloria’s Foundation.
Gloria’s Foundation has been established to preserve Gloria Steinem’s personal archive — which offers a window into countless individuals and organizations who have been central to movements for equal rights and justice, and Gloria’s apartment — which has long been a home base for radical community care, birthplace for ideas and living center of the feminist movement.
As this one document shows, there are many gems in this collection and we look forward to sharing them — and we also look forward to you sharing your memories.
Join us in celebrating Gloria Steinem’s 90th year, and the birth of Gloria’s Foundation! For more information, head to the link in our bio.
I was lucky to meet @candicebhopkins and learn about the @forgeprojectny in person during a recent Talking Circle. We were brought together then thanks to the Center for Feminist Art and @brooklynmuseum For those who might be learning about Forge for the first time, it is a Native-led organization whose mandate is to cultivate and advance Indigenous leadership in arts and culture.
What I have learned in my own experiences of Indigenous Cultures, each beautifully unique, was reflected in our time together. Most characteristic of the hundreds of original cultures on every continent was and is their practice of balance and reciprocity, of and, not either/or: of balance between individual and group, between humans and nature, between females and males – between humans and nature — if those two were thought of as separate at all – and between needs in the present and needs of four or even seven generations into the future.
If there is one author who dominates my bookshelves, it’s my dear friend Alice Walker. After 50 years of knowing her, I have seen countless readers discover and fall in love with her words. Alice puts her heart and soul and spirit onto the page. And yesterday was her birthday! We can all celebrate her by opening our hearts and minds to hers.
I am proudly from East Toledo, Ohio. Though I didn’t know it until long after her death, my paternal grandmother Pauline Perlmutter Steinem was a suffragist who addressed Congress as part of the campaign for the right to vote. She started the first vocational school in Toledo and was the first woman elected to the city’s school board, which she achieved through women’s organizing efforts.
While there is much about the state’s harmful restrictions on bodily autonomy that saddens me, I was happy to see that Ohioans have continued using the power of organizing and voting to demand reproductive freedom. Voters overwhelmingly rejected issue 1.
This victory paves way for an even greater one on November 7, when the citizens of Ohio can vote YES to enshrine reproductive access into their state constitution.
Democracy exists when all people have the fundamental right to make decisions about our own bodies and lives. To Ohioans, thank you for showing up to ensure Americans live with self-determination and freedom!
Flight attendants have always been my sisters in the sky. In my time on the road, I was lucky enough to listen to their challenges and stories of organizing for justice and better working conditions.
This is how I came to meet Dusty Roads in 1973, when she was a part of Stewardesses for Women’s Rights. SFWR fought the discrimination that women were facing in the airline industry, and Dusty continued to be a pioneer organizer for the rest of her life.
I encourage you to tune into the PBS American Experience documentary on the history of flight attendants, “Fly With Me” that features Dusty and airs tonight on your local PBS station or streaming on PBS.org.
Photo via Elaine Rock
I’m so proud to support my friends big and small at @honeyspackofhope — check out their post below with ways to support the work they do and the animals they help.
—
“We’re really grateful to @gloriasteinem and the Gloria Fund for a grant that is helping us help animals AND people. As Gloria has always taught, we should never ‘silo’ causes. We can help humans AND animals AND the environment AND so much more.
Thanks to this grant we’re:
🍯 Funding TWO 2-day sterilization projects led by @jeta_tier_und_mensch , covering up to 100 sterilizations paying an amazing Albanian woman to manage the efforts.
🍯 Co-piloting an education project with @animalsneedme . Thanks to this money, we can pay an education coordinator’s salary. She’ll lead regular workshops to educate the public, especially kids, about dogs and cats & how to treat them! Education is so key to creating change.
🍯 Providing monthly financial support to women who foster via Animals Need Me. Many of these women cannot work for various reasons (husband won’t allow it, economy, etc.). Despite these challenges, they open up their homes to shelter animals, and we think they deserve support!
🍯 Covering the costs of a workshop with @dogcoachingcenter – in conjunction with Animals Need Me, for dog owners in Shkodra. Supporting a rad small business educating people so they don’t ever give up their dogs = win, win!
🍯 Contributing to staff salaries for:
1) cat sterilization projects with Animals Need Me
2) two female JTUM employees who manage the shelters and handle all emergencies
Please follow us, donate, like our posts, and share. We are brand new and appreciate every act of support – big or small!”
#animalwelfare #animals #animalsandpeople #NGO #doinggood #hope
I’m so proud to support my friends big and small at @honeyspackofhope — check out their post below with ways to support the work they do and the animals they help.
—
“We’re really grateful to @gloriasteinem and the Gloria Fund for a grant that is helping us help animals AND people. As Gloria has always taught, we should never ‘silo’ causes. We can help humans AND animals AND the environment AND so much more.
Thanks to this grant we’re:
🍯 Funding TWO 2-day sterilization projects led by @jeta_tier_und_mensch , covering up to 100 sterilizations paying an amazing Albanian woman to manage the efforts.
🍯 Co-piloting an education project with @animalsneedme . Thanks to this money, we can pay an education coordinator’s salary. She’ll lead regular workshops to educate the public, especially kids, about dogs and cats & how to treat them! Education is so key to creating change.
🍯 Providing monthly financial support to women who foster via Animals Need Me. Many of these women cannot work for various reasons (husband won’t allow it, economy, etc.). Despite these challenges, they open up their homes to shelter animals, and we think they deserve support!
🍯 Covering the costs of a workshop with @dogcoachingcenter – in conjunction with Animals Need Me, for dog owners in Shkodra. Supporting a rad small business educating people so they don’t ever give up their dogs = win, win!
🍯 Contributing to staff salaries for:
1) cat sterilization projects with Animals Need Me
2) two female JTUM employees who manage the shelters and handle all emergencies
Please follow us, donate, like our posts, and share. We are brand new and appreciate every act of support – big or small!”
#animalwelfare #animals #animalsandpeople #NGO #doinggood #hope
I’m so proud to support my friends big and small at @honeyspackofhope — check out their post below with ways to support the work they do and the animals they help.
—
“We’re really grateful to @gloriasteinem and the Gloria Fund for a grant that is helping us help animals AND people. As Gloria has always taught, we should never ‘silo’ causes. We can help humans AND animals AND the environment AND so much more.
Thanks to this grant we’re:
🍯 Funding TWO 2-day sterilization projects led by @jeta_tier_und_mensch , covering up to 100 sterilizations paying an amazing Albanian woman to manage the efforts.
🍯 Co-piloting an education project with @animalsneedme . Thanks to this money, we can pay an education coordinator’s salary. She’ll lead regular workshops to educate the public, especially kids, about dogs and cats & how to treat them! Education is so key to creating change.
🍯 Providing monthly financial support to women who foster via Animals Need Me. Many of these women cannot work for various reasons (husband won’t allow it, economy, etc.). Despite these challenges, they open up their homes to shelter animals, and we think they deserve support!
🍯 Covering the costs of a workshop with @dogcoachingcenter – in conjunction with Animals Need Me, for dog owners in Shkodra. Supporting a rad small business educating people so they don’t ever give up their dogs = win, win!
🍯 Contributing to staff salaries for:
1) cat sterilization projects with Animals Need Me
2) two female JTUM employees who manage the shelters and handle all emergencies
Please follow us, donate, like our posts, and share. We are brand new and appreciate every act of support – big or small!”
#animalwelfare #animals #animalsandpeople #NGO #doinggood #hope
Truman Capote’s 1966 Black and White Ball, held at the Plaza Hotel in honor of my dear friend Kay Graham, seems to be getting some attention all these years later. I got to attend while on assignment for Vogue and my mask has become a permanent decoration in my home.
Though America is the place I call home, I also love to travel the world. How great that on a recent trip I got to experience America in Zambia. Thank you to the US Embassy in Zambia for making me proud to be an American.
Today especially, I am reminded that among the many things Judy Heumann and I have shared, that we both find ourselves living the unlived lives of our mothers. My own mother had to put aside her career as a brilliant journalist to become a wife and mother. I still remember her teaching me to fold a page in thirds to take journalists notes.
Judy and I both learned from our mothers to mother ourselves. I had no idea when we spoke, that this conversation for The Heumann Perspective would be my last with Judy. As saddened as I am by her passing, I am ever more honored to have shared these words and this work with her. For me, friends have been equally my family and I am honored that Judy and her legacy are a part of my chosen family.
There’s a reason they call @gloriasteinem the mother of feminism: she is one of the most fervent and fearless champions of women’s rights.
I’m deeply honored to have her support for US Senate.
Together, we’re fighting for reproductive rights, pay equity, and justice for survivors.
📸: Jenny Warburg