Gloria Steinem: Advocate of Peace in Time of War - Essay Example

America's military might is not our best policy" (Voices). Gloria Steinem was born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio. Her father was in the antique business, and the family traveled by trailer from Florida to California, while her father bought and sold antiques. When she was eight, her parents divorced, and she lived with her mother, who suffered from bouts of depression. Her mother's illness worsened and Gloria became responsible for her care. When she was 15, she went to Washington, D.C., to live with her sister, who was 15 years older, and from there entered Smith College, a prestigious women's college, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude in 1956 (Gloria Steinem bio).

From then on, Steinem, tempered by her early experiences, made herself known to the world as a successful, self-assured journalist. According to Anuradha Vittachi, Director of OneWorld UK, Steinem's conference speech given in 2005 (when she was 70 years old) confirmed her standing as a revered feminist, not just by what she said but by her presence as she said it. She spoke, said Vittachi, with calm authority and quiet seriousness, tempered by humor. Steinem had established herself as a journalist by the 1960s and gained public attention from the media after actually becoming a Playboy bunny in order to write an article.

Fortunately, because she was attractive and shapely, she was hired and held the position for three weeks in order to accumulate on-the-scene research that exposed the poor working conditions and meager wages of these women (Gloria Steinem bio). This was the beginning of her role as a feminist, and she became editor of Ms. magazine and was active in the National Organization for Women. It was during these years that she made known her feelings against the Vietnam War. Martin Luther King's non-violent attitude toward civil rights encouraged many to take up his cause.

In 1968, King was assassinated, and the same year Senator Robert Kennedy, an opponent of the Vietnam War, was also assassinated. President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in 1963. Steinem was strongly influenced by the beliefs of these men, and especially by the tragedy of their deaths, and she became an active member of the Democratic Party and an advocate for peace and an end to the conflict. AttitudeIt's that spirit of inquiry and openness that brings us together, because that's the spirit of journalism at it's best and of social justice movements at their best Transcript (Steinem), para.

8 In her experience as a journalist, Steinem notes that what is accurate in reporting requires what is personal. She speaks about her mother, a journalist who had to write under a male pseudonym at first and later was able to use her own name but only to write social news. In a society where women were considered merely extensions of their mates, her mother had to give up journalism for family, even though she could have been a more successful breadwinner than her husband, who continuously followed his elusive dreams.

Steinem's mother instilled in her a love of words and the importance of accuracy in reporting. Steinem's influence was greatest from 1960 to 1975 at a time in history when civil rights, the women's movement, gay movement, environmental