Chapter 8
Steps Forward and Back
Ms. magazine was a huge success with readers. Because of this success, Gloria and her colleagues wanted to help women’s causes in other ways. In 1972, they created the Ms. Foundation for Women. The foundation raised money for numerous women’s causes, from helping abused women to supporting female politicians. At the time, there weren’t many organizations that worked just to help women. Once again, Gloria was paving a new path for herself and all women.
Perhaps the most well-known project created by the Ms. Foundation is Take Our Daughters to Work Day. It was established to help girls experience firsthand all the work options open to them.
Gloria’s schedule became even busier. She worked with the National Women’s Political Caucus, which fought to help women get elected to political office. And she continued to fight for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. In 1972, McCall’s magazine named her Woman of the Year.
Gloria represented the National Women’s Political Caucus as a delegate at the 1972 Democratic National Convention. This was a position that Betty Friedan had hoped to get. The fact that Gloria was chosen fueled Friedan’s rivalry with Gloria. Friedan thought Gloria was turning off women who enjoyed being married and raising children. The Redstockings, the group that helped raise Gloria’s awareness of women’s issues, also turned against her. They put out a press release that talked about the work Gloria had done for the Independent Research Service. The press release said that she had been associated with the CIA. The Redstockings claimed that Gloria had actually been “planted” by the CIA to gather information about feminists and the women’s movement.
According to Betty Friedan and the women of NOW, Gloria was too extreme. To more radical women, like those in the Redstockings, Gloria was not extreme enough. These attacks hurt Gloria very much. She had dedicated much of her life to helping women and focusing attention on women’s issues. And now she was being attacked because of it.
Another problem Gloria had to deal with was the advertising in Ms. Many advertisers did not want to place ads in a magazine that covered such controversial issues. So although Ms. magazine was popular with readers, they had to charge more for advertising than other magazines in the country. And because they had to charge more for advertising, they also had to charge more for the magazine. Ms. was more expensive than most magazines.
But Gloria had made a commitment to help women not only in the United States, but around the world, and she would not let them down.
In 1981, Gloria’s mother, Ruth Steinem, died. Ruth’s health had been declining, and she had been living in a nursing home. Although Gloria hadn’t always had an easy life with her mother, she was very sad when she died. No one had been more proud of Gloria’s achievements than her mother.
In 1982, Ms. magazine celebrated its tenth anniversary. It was an incredible achievement. Gloria said, “It’s a miracle that it managed to survive.” The magazine had a party to celebrate, and the party was a big event. Bella Abzug, a former congresswoman from New York and a strong supporter of feminist causes, was at the party. She sang “Happy Birthday” for the partygoers.
Two years later, in 1984, Gloria celebrated her fiftieth birthday. Because she was so famous by then, over seven hundred guests attended her party! They included women who had influenced her, like civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, and women who had benefited from her work, like astronaut Sally Ride. The black-tie event was also a fund-raiser for the Ms. Foundation. It was a way for people to say “thank you” to Gloria. The party gave people the opportunity to show their appreciation for her tireless work.
