Rich cultures, patriarchal cultures, value thin women, like ours; poor ones value fat women. But all patriarchal cultures value weak women. So for women to become physically strong is very profound. – Gloria Steinem
I’m so happy that we’re finally hearing the stories and voices of women who make America. We do what we see, not what we’re told, so an incomplete story of this country damages everyone. – Gloria Steinem
Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself. – Gloria Steinem
What we need to be able to do is count all human experience. So I would like to count the secretarial positions as good training places to take over the jobs of the bosses. – Gloria Steinem
You can see the absence of women in governing bodies from Congress to state legislators, on corporate boards, in tenured positions in academia, and as forepeople in factories. – Gloria Steinem
There’s a big gap between public opinion polls and the vote in Washington, in Congress. – Gloria Steinem
A majority of Americans want redemption for racism – for our terrible, destructive racist past – and so see a vote for Obama as redemptive. – Gloria Steinem
I hate to generalize, but in general, both men and women suffer from ageism. Men much less because men gain power as they get older. Women lose power as they get older. Men are seen as gaining experience and being distinguished. Sons look forward to replacing their fathers. – Gloria Steinem
It’s an incredible con job when you think about it, to believe something now in exchange for something after death. Even corporations with their reward systems don’t try to make it posthumous. – Gloria Steinem
Like art, revolutions come from combining what exists into what has never existed before. – Gloria Steinem
The abolition and suffrage movements progressed when united and were damaged by division; we should remember that. – Gloria Steinem
From pacifist to terrorist, each person condemns violence – and then adds one cherished case in which it may be justified. – Gloria Steinem
I supported Hillary Clinton. She would have made an excellent president. I didn’t think she could get elected. I thought it was too soon. – Gloria Steinem
We need to remember across generations that there is as much to learn as there is to teach. – Gloria Steinem
Nothing changes the gender equation more significantly than women’s economic freedom. – Gloria Steinem
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. – Gloria Steinem
What has the women’s movement learned from Geraldine Ferraro’s candidacy for vice president? Never get married. – Gloria Steinem
I’d like to be played as a child by Natalie Wood. I’d have some romantic scenes as Audrey Hepburn and have gritty black-and-white scenes as Patricia Neal. – Gloria Steinem
The origins of violence against women by men are not biological. If that were the case, it would exist in every culture. And it doesn’t exist in every culture. – Gloria Steinem
In a general way, anything that affects men is taken more seriously than anything that affects only women. – Gloria Steinem
A gender-equal society would be one where the word ‘gender’ does not exist: where everyone can be themselves. – Gloria Steinem
I want to help correct the inaccurate image of immigration in the media. There is an idea that women’s issues are over here and immigration is over there. Three quarters of undocumented workers are women and children. – Gloria Steinem
The same way that racism is a white person’s problem, violence against women is a men’s problem. – Gloria Steinem
As for the American child’s classic problem – too much mother, too little father – that would be cured by an equalization of parental responsibility. – Gloria Steinem
A movement is only composed of people moving. To feel its warmth and motion around us is the end as well as the means. – Gloria Steinem
I was the first woman to speak ever at the National Press Club, and they gave me a necktie. – Gloria Steinem