Gloria M. Steinem
Gloria M. Steinem addressed Brown School graduates and their family and friends during the school’s diploma ceremony Friday, May 18, 2012. Steinem received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree in 2012.
She co-founded Ms. Magazine in 1972, the first periodical created, owned and operated entirely by women, and remained one of its editors for 15 years.
Steinem continues to serve as a consulting editor for Ms. She also helped found in 1968 New York Magazine, where she was a political columnist and wrote feature articles.
Her books include the bestsellers Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983); Marilyn: Norma Jean (1986); Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem (1992); and Moving Beyond Words (1993). Her most recent book is Doing Sixty & Seventy (2006).
Championing women’s rights
Among other organizations, Steinem was the founding president of the Ms. Foundation for Women, which supports grassroots projects to empower women and girls. She also was a founder of the foundation’s “Take Our Daughters to Work Day,” the first national day devoted to girls.
Her numerous writing awards include the Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of Writers Award from the United Nations, and the University of Missouri School of Journalism Award for Distinguished Service in Journalism.
Parenting magazine selected Steinem for its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995 for her work in promoting girls’ self-esteem, and Biography magazine listed her as one of the 25 most influential women in America. In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y.
A 1956 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Smith College, Steinem is writing Road to the Heart: America As if Everyone Mattered, a book about her more than 40 years on the road as a feminist organizer.