Gloria Steinem turns 81 today and what better way to celebrate all her incredible accomplishments than with a few of her best quotes?
As a journalist, feminist, and political and social activist, Gloria has been blazing trails for equal rights since the ’60s. Over the course of her stellar career she has penned 7 best-selling books, founded Ms. Magazine, the National Women’s Media Center, and National Women’s Political Caucus. Her dozens of accolades include the United Nations’ Ceres Medal, the Clarion Award, Esquire magazine’s 75 greatest women of all time, National Women’s Hall of Fame inductee, a DVF Lifetime Leadership Award, Biography magazine’s 25 most influential women in America, and Glamour magazine’s 75 Most Important Women of the Past 75 Years, amongst others.
In honor of this amazing woman who has dedicated her life to equality for all, her are our favorite Gloria Steinem quotes:
“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. That’s their natural and first weapon. She will need her sisterhood.”
“The first resistance to social change is to say it’s not necessary.”
“Unless we include a job as part of every citizen’s right to autonomy and personal fulfillment, women will continue to be vulnerable to someone else’s idea of what need is.”
“Women are not going to be equal outside the home until men are equal in it.”
“Self-esteem isn’t everything; it’s just that there’s nothing without it.”
“Once we give up searching for approval we often find it easier to earn respect.”
“Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”
“We’ll never solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth.”
“A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.”
“The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving.”
“We need to remember across generations that there is as much to learn as there is to teach.”
Happy Birthday, Gloria!
