Feminist Steinem to address YWCA

After more than 40 years as an advocate for gender equality, Gloria Steinem in conversation is a living op-ed column.

Gloria Steinem, Presented by the YWCA

When: Tuesday, Oct. 30. VIP reception at 11-11:45 a.m. Registration at 11:30 a.m, luncheon and presentation at noon.

Where: Ritz-Carlton Phoenix, 2401 E. Camelback Road.

Admission: $145, including luncheon and presentation, $250 with VIP reception, luncheon and presentation, $75 for students; student scholarships are available.

Details: 602-258-0990, ywcaaz.org.

She name-drops international human-rights advocates, quotes just-published research statistics on equality and offers family-focused solutions to seemingly intractable public-policy issues.

At 78, Steinem is one of the mothers of the American feminist movement. She spoke with TheRepublic in advance of her appearance as keynote speaker at a lunch for the YWCA Maricopa County at the Ritz-Carlton Phoenix on Tuesday, Oct. 30.

After so many years of talking, marching and coordinating, Steinem speaks effortlessly but thoughtfully, moving rapidly through such far-ranging topics as the work being done by the National Domestic Workers Alliance, why American society still lacks gender parity and why she believes in re-electing President Barack Obama.

Steinem is addressing the Valley at a time when women's roles are being hotly debated because of shifts driven by the recession and by years of agitation by gender-equality advocates, on such blogs as Feministing and Jezebel, and in such books as Hanna Rosin's "The End of Men."

These conversations represent what some call a fourth wave of feminism, focusing not just on women's rights but, following Steinem's ever-inclusive lead, attempting to fold in broader social-justice issues.

Since founding Ms. Magazine in 1972, Steinem has broadened her advocacy to workers' rights, non-violent conflict resolution and the end of child abuse and institutionalized violence. She's working on a book reflecting on her years of activism called "Road to the Heart: America As If Everyone Mattered."

Talking to Steinem today, she's a woman with an eye for all types of social injustice, but she's also hopeful and believes each individual can effect change. This is why she continues to speak publicly and write.

Question: Why partner with the YWCA, and what do you plan to address in your talk?

Answer: The YWCA is such an important institution and it doesn't get credit, so I always try to include them. They kept their heart and spirit between the suffragette era when they were founded and the current one. Most of the organizations strong in the suffragette era didn't continue, but YWCA did, ? continuing to serve all women.

I want to talk about two things: One, the great adversary to the women's movement is the idea that the women's movement is over, which is just another form of backlash, and two, how important this election is.

Q. What do you mean when you talk about attacks on feminism?

A. Most women are not worried about having it all, they're worried about losing it all. Having it all is only applicable to a very small, privileged group. The same people who were saying 30 years ago that feminism was unnatural or going against God, it's the same people who are saying it's not necessary anymore.

We need changes in policy. It's not possible for the individual to solve all these issues by herself. The individual cannot solve the problem that this is the only advanced democracy in the world without state health care. To blame the individual for the situation is to keep that person from making change. It's a way of shifting responsibility for action and inaction.

Q. Who comes to hear you speak?

A. It's so diverse. I'm met by hearty organizers who say, "We've organized this for tonight; we've rented a hall," and they're always worried that not enough people will come, but then the hall is overflowing. The interest is huge. Women's issues are not just women's issues; they're our daily lives, but because it's not reflected in the media, it may come as a surprise. The media treats women like they're separate.

Q. Is this why you want to talk about the election?

A. If you read the public opinion polls, you see all the issues are majority issues: equal pay, reproductive rights, environmental quality. But you don't see that because we have very low voter turnout. Right now, the electorate is still older, richer and Whiter than the population. I am certainly advocating that people vote for Obama because the Republican Party is no longer run by Republicans. This party is so extremist that they could no longer nominate Nixon, the first Bush and Reagan. It's very dangerous for one of our two great parties to be run by extremists.

Q. What's your favorite part of addressing groups?

A. Listening. That's my favorite part. If you create a space where people are free to speak their minds, then they do. It's creating a space in which the people in the room get to know each other. … Often somebody on one side of the room asks a question and someone on the other side answers it. It's what organizers do, we make spaces in which people can find community.

I hope that we have a long discussion time after I speak. That, to me, is when I get to learn and I discover if I can be helpful in specific ways.

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