Feminism in the Twenty-First Century
This year’s event was particularly meaningful, as it celebrated not only the twenty-fifth Gloria Awards, but also the fortieth anniversary of the Ms. Foundation. The 2014 event is already eagerly anticipated, with Gloria Steinem celebrating her eightieth birthday next year. Of course, the evening truly belonged to the honorees, whose deeds speak volumes about their courage, determination, and audacious vision. But it was impossible to overlook the magnetism of the woman who started it all.
gloria steinem tells of the struggle for rights from humble beginnings
brightly. “Our host, Jane Comer, was recognized as the Gloria Awards Woman of Vision and Action winner in 2010, and we were inspired and proud to share in her accolades and accomplishments,” added Burwell. Von Furstenberg, in fact, delivered a poignant speech, sharing a personal and family history characterized by unabashed optimism and astonishing persistence. She shared that her mother, who gave birth to von Furstenberg just eighteen months after being freed from a Nazi concentration camp, instilled in her daughter that failure wasn’t an option. Von Furstenberg internalized that message, not only as it related to her, but to others as well. When she married a prince, she declined the title of princess, opting instead to retain her own identity and use her growing influence to raise other women up. After all, failing them wasn’t an option. Other veteran women’s activists honored at the Gloria Awards included Melinda Wolfe, head of Professional Development at Bloomberg and a tireless advocate for corporate diversity, and Lauren Embrey, president and CEO of the Embrey Family Foundation and CEO of Embrey Interests, a human rights campaigner who produced a documentary on the commercial sexual exploitation of children in America. Then, there were the newcomers: fresh voices who have fearlessly joined the fight for equal economic opportunity, health-care access, and antiviolence measures. Their ranks included Saru Jayaraman, director of the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, who helped cofound Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC-United) after 9/11 to help displaced food workers. Now, as ROC-United codirector, she fosters its mission to improve wages and working conditions for the country’s ten million restaurant workers. Sunny Clifford, an indigenous Lakota woman from South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is a young activist focused on protecting and expanding Native American women’s reproductive choices—most recently, by leading a campaign to improve access to emergency contraception for women dependent on Indian Health Services. “Each of them has charted a new course for their female comrades,” observed Anne Hunter of the honorees, “a path that Gloria Steinem had blazed before them.”
Decked out in an elegant ensemble that she accessorized with her beloved cowgirl boots, Steinem radiated a heady combination of humility, strength, beauty, and grace. Knowing that she had influenced every woman in the room—and that the group actually represented a small fraction of the people touched by her work—was the very definition of awesome. In her four-decade-plus journey toward changing the American landscape, she has fought for the everywoman, though the guest list revealed that her cowarriors include many notable names as well. Along with Diane von Furstenberg and Marlo Thomas, Olympia Dukakis was in attendance. Whether the women had marquee names, or were well known in only their corner of the world, the attendees had one thing in common: helping others within their sphere of influence. “What I witnessed was the mindset that to whom much is given, much is expected,” said Lisa Burwell. “And that may have been the most important message for me that evening—that these women tirelessly give back.” Perhaps nothing speaks to the respect engendered by Steinem and the movement she spearheaded as much as the fact that, while many of these luminaries have their own foundations, they choose to support the Ms. Foundation’s work. Von Furstenberg, whose family’s private foundation funds nonprofits in fields such as education, human rights, and health, presents her own DVF Awards to women whose work benefits their fellow woman. Yet she pledged $100,000 to the Ms. Foundation during the Gloria Awards. Marlo Thomas carries on her father’s devotion to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, for which she heads up annual fund-raising efforts totaling $100 million. Yet she, too, continues to invest in the Ms. Foundation. V IE Z INE .C OM | 147