I love reading about women’s rights across the world, and I recently started reading Gloria Steinem’s vast collection of books, articles and essays.
She is a fantastic activist, journalist and campaigner for women’s rights– and her writing is so inspiring, yet relatable.
I recently watched the TV show ‘Mrs America‘ which portrayed a fictional retelling of the fight to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment across the USA, and the formidable team for and against this bill.
I really recommend this show if you haven’t watched it yet, and it’s full of inspiring, complicated and realistic characters.
After watching this show, which portrayed Gloria Steinem as one of the women fighting for the ERA, I knew I had to read more about her.
She is such an interesting woman, and her book ‘My Life on the Road’ is one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read.
It’s full of vivid stories about everything from political campaigns to the fight for abortion rights in the US.
It’s amazing how much the women’s right campaign did during the 1960s and 1970s, and I found this book truly inspiring.
Gloria Steinem is an iconic writer and campaigner, and I think she should be on everyone’s reading list this year!
Her writing is relatable, relevant and important to understand the struggles many people still face today.
In this blog post, I’ve come up with 5 reasons Gloria Steinem should be on your reading list this year!
She’s an amazing journalist
Gloria Steinem started out as a journalist in the 1960s, and she has written so many fantastic articles, essays and editorials about life in America, politics and social issues.
I love her first book ‘Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions’ which is a compilation of some of her most famous articles.
For example, she writes about infiltrating playboy- and she wrote an exposé about what it’s really like to work there.
She also writes honestly about American politics, and questions the notion that a male journalist is needed to properly cover an important subject.
She doesn’t just talk about women’s rights
Gloria Steinem is a crucial player in the women’s rights movement, but she also fights for other issues.
She discusses a wide range of social issues in her book ‘My Life on the Road’ and she talks about campaigning for worker’s rights, prisoner’s rights, civil rights and the rights of Native Americans.
Gloria Steinem tries to show that feminism is not just about white middle class women, and in fact that is a misconception created by the media.
I love that she talks about such a wide range of issues in her book, and her passion for all of these issues is so inspiring!
She does so much for women’s rights
As well as fighting for other important issues, I love how Gloria Steinem talks about women’s rights– and that’s why she should definitely be on your reading list this year!
She discusses abortion rights in America, talking about this subject at a time before abortion was legalised in the U.S.
In fact, she openly discusses how she had an abortion in the UK before it became legal- and the importance of giving women this right over their own body.
She is one of the “original” 1960s and 1970s feminist thinkers, and the first to come up with ground-breaking ideas that are still debated, discussed, and up-held by women everywhere today.
She’s inclusive and humble
Gloria Steinem should be on your reading list because she is inclusive and open about women’s rights and the other issues she discusses.
She speaks about going around the country with women such as Florynce Kennedy and Alice Walker, and the immense importance of seeing the fight for women’s rights as a fight for all women.
She discusses the importance of women of colour in the fight for women’s rights, and I love that her books give so much credit to everyone in the movement- not just the amazing work she did herself.
She is relatable
I wouldn’t have thought it before I started reading her books, but Gloria Steinem is such a relatable person.
Of course, I’m in awe of how tirelessly she worked (and still works) for women’s rights across the world.
I’m in awe of her amazing writing skills and the opportunities she made for herself, and the amount of backlash she must have received in her life.
But when you read her writing, she also comes across as a relatable and very normal person.
She speaks at length about her flaws and the mistakes she’s made along the way, and I love how she discusses how scared she was of public speaking at first, and how she actually bombed a few talks.
Despite her fears, she tried to improve this side of her character and became a renowned public speaker in schools and colleges across the US.
Even though Gloria Steinem has done lots of amazing things in her life, she still comes across as a very ordinary person in her writing.
Do you think Gloria Steinem should be on your reading list this year? What do you think of her work? Do you agree with my reasons for adding Gloria Steinem to your reading list?
Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below 🙂
Happy reading x
Image credits here
Note: since writing this post, Roe v Wade has been revoked. To find out more, check out the BBC website.
Not-So-Modern Girl 
I’ve never heard of Gloria Steinem before but she sounds incredible! I love learning about people so this blogpost in particular was really interesting to me. I love what she stands for! Thank you so much for sharing her Xo
Elle – ellegracedeveson.com
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She is amazing! Thank you Elle, I love it too and she’s written on a range of subjects that I find very interesting and relevant x
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I’ve heard of Gloria before but didn’t realise all the incredible work she’s done so I’ll need to give her work a read x
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She is fantastic, well worth a read if you like finding out more about women’s rights x
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I was hooked in Mrs America. Cate Blanchett and Rose Byrne were amazing!
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It was such a fantastic watch, all the characters were so complex it was amazing x
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I’ve heard of her but not read anything, so have just added On the Road to my Scribd list
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My Life on the Road is such a good book and really gives you an insight into all the work she’s done 🙂 thanks for sharing and commenting Nicki x
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I haven’t heard this one but I might need to check it out now! This is kinda so related to me x
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Thank you 🙂
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My Life on the Road is on my reading list now. Thanks so much for the recommendation!
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It’s fantastic, thank youbx
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Eeek I’ve never heard of Gloria before but I remember reading your post about Mrs America, and this has definitely promoted me to watch that now! Great post, she sounds like an amazing woman x
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Thank you Jenny, I really hope you give it a watch 🙂 yes she’s done incredible things x
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Ah that’s fantastic, thank you :)!
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I have loved her activism and journalism for many years and have always been impressed when I’ve watched/listened to interviews she has done. She always educates in a way that just drops knowledge and pivots your (often ingrained) perceptions of feminism or an issue she’s discussing. Amazing woman!
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I agree she is a fantastic author and her activism is incredible- very inspiring! Yes that’s very true, she doesn’t shame and she admits that she had a lot of close-minded views too once upon a time that she now teaches people to re-learn x
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I’ve heard of Gloria Steinem and I love how much she has done for women’s rights, I will definitely add her to my reading list! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
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I really recommend checking out her books 🙂 thank you Lucy x
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Lovely to read how passionate you are about her work and achievements. Great post!
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Thank you Anika 🙂
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Thank you! She’s so fantastic, really worth a read x
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Wow……Gloria Steinem sounds amazing! Yeah, we, women should read her works. Thank you for sharing this. I’m going to share this post with my BFF. I’m sure she’ll like this too.
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She is amazing, I really recommend checking out her work x
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I’m old enough to remember Gloria Steinem and her work and I want to check this book out! Thanks for sharing.
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It’s a fantastic read, I really recommend 🙂
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I’d heard of Gloria Steinem and caught a couple of episodes of Mrs America but hadn’t thought much more about her – thank you for this post, it sounds like I need to investigate her writing properly! x
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I love her writing and she is a fantastic icon 🙂 thank you Lisa, I’m glad you enjoyed the post and I hope you get to watch the rest of Mrs America at some point- it’s an inspirational watch x
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As far as I’m aware, I’ve never heard of this woman, but I am terrible with names, so I can’t be 100% sure on that. The show sounds like it’s more up my alley, as I’m not a big reader, do I’ll probably check that out instead
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I hope you enjoy the show, it’s such a fantastic depiction of the inspirational fight for women’s rights. Thank you for commenting
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Thank you, these kinds of shows tend to be ones I enjoy most
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Amazing article. Will definitely check out her works.
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Thank you! I hope you find them inspirational too
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Gloria Steinem has really paved the way for women’s rights and has inspired generations of women! I have only read bits a pieces of her work, but she is definitely someone worth reading. It is great to see that her work is still inspiring women. Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you Tiffany 🙂 she is such an inspirational writer and activist, and I’m glad you’ve enjoyed her work too x
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Gloria is honestly an incredible human! Everything she has done for women’s rights is incredible!
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She is amazing, I agree x
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Thank you Alicia 🙂 I hope you enjoy what you read x
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I’ve just started watching Mrs. America! When I heard the name, Gloria Steinem, I knew I’d seen that name somewhere. She sounds like a great woman. I had no idea that she also wrote about other topics like social issues too. Great read. Thanks for sharing 🙂
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It’s a great series, I loved every episode! Yes she’s written about a range of issues, with women’s rights being the most prominent x
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Wow, I’ve never heard of Gloria Steinem before but she sounds absolutely incredible. Great post, Eleanor xx
Lynn | https://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com
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Her work is fantastic, I really recommend checking it out x
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I’ve not heard of Gloria Steinem but she sounds like an amazing and inspirational woman.
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She’s amazing, I really recommending reading up on her x
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