Inspirations: Gloria Steinem

I attend a virtual writing group twice a week and this week we were asked to name people we admire and write about how and why they are an inspiration. I have a number of heroes if I'm honest, each for the differences they made in their field, be it music, literature, politics or education. One of my major influences has been on my mind recently. As political unrest grew in the USA and Black Lives Matter became a driving force to expose the inequalities people face every day there, I was reminded of one of the women I admire hugely. She has dedicated her life to fighting for human rights, equality, fairness and kindness, travelling the world and making tiny differences wherever she went, changing society one person at a time. Being a part of the civil rights movement and engaging with systems and politicians to help make the world a better place. She was the reason I engaged with politics, became a feminist, a member of Greenpeace, CND and Labour as a young teenager, and became aware of the needs of so many groups in this country.

If I could live my life again, I would have loved to have studied to be a journalist. Gloria Steinem was and is a huge inspiration in my life. She is an American journalist and social political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader and a spokeswoman for the American feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Steinem was a co-founder of Ms magazine with Dorothy Pitman Hughes and six other female journalists. She remains a co-editor on Ms to this day.

When I went to college, I had decided to become a teacher. I had always wanted to teach and admired both my teacher parents hugely. I didn't have the confidence to be a journalist so always held this dream close, in touch with a friend who went off to work for local newspapers and as far afield as Moscow - she had the courage I didn't possess. But I wanted to teach, partly because I hoped I'd be good at it and mainly so I could help children and their families who were being marginalised and treated unfairly. So, off I went to college. I raided charity shops for everything I could read by this woman and immersed myself in the music of her era listening to the likes of Carole King, Helen Reddy, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. I was even inspired to dress myself in 1970s chic. My group of friends were artists, musicians and writers, some of whom were also teacher training and it was a real time of growth and discovery.

I wanted to travel, to see the places she'd been. I went to San Francisco and drank coffee where Gloria drank coffee, I went to New York and bought books where she bought books and walked where she had protested for herself, her friends and as an ally for groups fighting for visibility and equality. I educated myself about subjects she stood for then and stands for now. I almost taught in San Francisco but life had other plans for me. I taught in East London and South Yorkshire working with children, some of whom were experiencing many difficulties, be they those of learning, hunger, abuse, and/or arriving in the UK as refugees,  Each year, I would briefly look up up from my next lesson plan, wonder about living and teaching in America or India to follow in her footsteps and then go back to the job in hand. I loved teaching and felt I'd found my niche.

I wanted children and was blessed with them. My writing took a different course although from time to time I would write an article for publication which let me flex my journalistic muscles. I've always attended protests relating to all sorts of matters that are important to me and push for positive change in much smaller ways, but she inspires me to never give up. 

Steinem educates me with every one of her articles, she empowers me with knowledge and understanding so I can challenge those parts of society that leave people needing more. She fires up my political self and pushes me to research and learn more about what’s really going on in society. 

Gloria Steinem lives her life to bring awareness of those people who are marginalised and dares to stand up for what she believes in, often in the face of adversity. She uses her words to bring power to those who feel they have none. What an icon. When I read her words, I am inspired to do better, to live better. An incredible woman.