Gloria Steinem - On Feminism

"The kind of writing I’d like to do has to do with both theory and reporting. Thesetwo things have to be hooked up. I think that’s what feminism has to contribute to the world at large; that you can’t just write theory out of no reality, that you have to start as we started, in consciousness-raising groups, and say, Here’s the real situation and here’s the theoretical conclusions that the real situation leads to. The separation between experience and theory is part of the whole split between the intellectual and emotional that’s such a problem. I mean, it just doesn’t exist. It’s part of the male/ female split in our culture that has caused us to cut off qualities in ourselves. It’s not that there aren’t two sides to some things. I’m sure there are, but there aren’t two sides to everything. There are eleven, or a hundred and fourteen or one, and it’s a gross distortion of reality to say there are two sides or to say there has to be a winner or a loser. Reality is much more diverse and interesting than that, and all the splits of intellect and emotion and body and mind should be mended. Feminism is the belief that women are full human beings. It’s simple justice." Gloria Steinem

The oral biography of Gloria Steinem, whose dedication to feminism and social justice continues to improve life for millions of people worldwide.

Gloria Steinem - On Women in Society

"We’ve gotten where we are today, I think, mainly through individual women telling the truth. I mean, the consciousness-raising group is still the cell of the women’s movement. That means that one woman dared to say that she thought it was unfair that she had to both have a job and take care of the kids while her husband only had a job, and she said this unsayable thing that all of Ladies’ Home Journal was devoted to keep her from saying. And then ten other women said, “Oh, you feel like that? I thought only I felt like that.” And we began to realize that was political, there was a reason why that was true. Or one of us, or a few of us, spoke out about having an abortion and what it meant to have to get an abortion and risk your life. As more and more people spoke out, we began to realize that one out of three or four adult women has had an abortion, so we began to see the politics behind that, that we’re the means of reproduction and that patriarchy was the basic reason for our being in the trouble we were in the first place. " Gloria Steinem

The oral biography of Gloria Steinem, whose dedication to feminism and social justice continues to improve life for millions of people worldwide.

Bella Abzug – On the rights of women.

"What I try to do is make women feel that there isn’t anything they can’t do if they want to. And when I speak to them or meet with them, I try to give them that feeling, that this is their right. Whatever they want to do, they have a right to be and a right to expect support from institutions which affect their lives. I also try to awaken young people. This is their future. They’re going to be in charge in the year 2000. I tell them that they are the major force for change in this country and that they can change their own lives and the lives of others by acting on that together with other people. When I’ve finished, I like to think they believe it."

– Bella Abzug, from 'Particular Passions: Talks With Women Who Shaped Our Times', by Lynn Gilbert. For a limited time -- the oral biography of Bella Abzug, an outspoken crusader for peace and human rights who heralded in an era of social change, is available free of charge.

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Bella Abzug – On becoming a lawyer

"I decided I was going to be a lawyer when I was eleven years old. I can’t tell you that I had a role model of a woman lawyer because I really didn’t. There were some, a few, but I didn’t really know who they were. I made up my mind that you could fight for social justice more effectively as a lawyer and so I became a lawyer. Since there were only a few women lawyers, I knew that it was going to be very rough. I applied to Harvard Law School because I heard it was the best law school. Harvard wrote back and said they didn’t accept women. I was outraged. I always tell this story because it’s so cute about my mother. I turned to my mother and I said, “Can you believe this?” I always say “I turned to my mother,” because in those days there was no women’s movement so you always turned to your mother. Now I always say, my two daughters have the best of both worlds. They’re able to turn to me and the women’s movement at the same time. But anyway, I turned to my mother and said, “This is an outrage.” (I always had a decent sense of outrage.) My mother said, “What do you want to go to Harvard for? It’s far away. You haven’t got the carfare anyhow. Go to Columbia. It’s near home. They’ll probably give you a scholarship and it only costs five cents on the subway.” And I did that. I got a scholarship and it only cost five cents on the subway. I always say that’s when I became an advocate of low-cost public mass transportation.”

– Bella Abzug, from 'Particular Passions: Talks with Women Who Shaped Our Times', by Lynn Gilbert.

The oral biography of Bella Abzug, an outspoken crusader for peace and human rights who heralded in an era of social change.

Available for $0.99 at Apple and Amazon.

Bella Abzug – On Feminism

"WHEN I FIRST RAN for Congress, people said to me, “How long have you been a feminist?” And I said, “I suppose from the day I was born.”

– Bella Abzug, from 'Particular Passions: Talks with Women Who Shaped Our Times', by Lynn Gilbert The oral biography of Bella Abzug, an outspoken crusader for peace and human rights who heralded in an era of social change.

Available for $0.99 at Apple  and Amazon.