“This is no simple reform.

It really is a revolution.

Sex and race because they are easy and visible differences have been the primary ways of organizing human beings into superior and inferior groups and into the cheap labor on which this system still depends.

We are talking about a society in which there will be no roles other than those chosen or those earned.

We are really talking about humanism.” 

― Gloria Steinem

Gail Collins reminded us this weekend that Gloria Steinem turns 80 on Tuesday.  Eighty years old!  That sounds unbelievable. And what she has accomplished in these years, against all odds, is something that we can’t help but be in awe of.

“Don’t think about making women fit the world — think about making the world fit women.” 

― Gloria Steinem

Along with millions of other women (and many men), I would like to thank her from the bottom of my heart for all she has done, and for all that she continues to do for women, and humankind the world over.

“Women have two choices: Either she’s a feminist or a masochist.” 
― Gloria Steinem

For those who live our ordinary lives today, it is almost like the word “feminist” was invented because of her. She was the leader of the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s and 70s so for many of us who are able to reap the benefits of what she accomplished, she has become a visible icon of feminism.

“Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.”
― Gloria Steinem

And as much as conservatives (still!) rue her work and her very existence, I would like to think that many more of us cannot help but celebrate her. Thank you, Gloria. And many happy returns on your 80th birthday!

“A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.” 

― Gloria Steinem

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