Hillary Clinton on Thursday remembered activist Gloria Steinem as “one of the architects of the entire structure of women’s equality,” while encouraging young women to lift up others in the continued fight for the causes Steinem championed.
“I’m hoping that young women realize that the fight is worth it. It is exhilarating,” said the former secretary of state on “CBS Mornings.”
Steinem, who co-founded Ms. magazine and was a trailblazing figure of the women’s liberation movement, died on Wednesday, the Gloria Steinem Foundation announced Thursday morning. She was 92.
Clinton said Thursday that she’s “heartsick” over Steinem’s death, like “everyone who not only knew her but followed her, was inspired and challenged by her,” recalling back to her first impressions of the groundbreaking feminist figure.
“I think back to my first awareness of Gloria way back in the 1960s into the ’70s, when all of a sudden this incredibly smart, beautiful, talented woman began talking about how women should have equal opportunity, how we should aim for the stars, be able to pursue our own dreams,” Clinton said.
With Steinem’s Ms. magazine, Clinton said many women were offered among the first opportunities to “read articles about the status of women, to understand what the restrictions were.”
“I knew there were, back when I was a young woman, schools that wouldn’t take women, jobs that wouldn’t take women, scholarships that weren’t open to women. I lived it,” Clinton said. “But the lived experience became much more real and applicable to our entire society when Gloria began to point it out.”
Clinton said she was “so fortunate to get to know her, to spend time with” Steinem. She said she visited Steinem in her home last year, where the two had “the most incredible conversation.”
“Even though we’re facing some challenges and pushback here in this country and around the world to women’s full participation and equality, Gloria was at heart an optimist,” Clinton said. “Her activism was rooted in optimism, and that’s a moral choice, and she made it every day.”
The former secretary of state, who was the first woman to represent a major political party as a presidential nominee in 2016, praised Steinem for “tearing down those obstacles to young women being able to participate where their talents and hard work took them.”
“I think about all of the ways that I saw in my own life, over the course of about 10 to 15 years, Gloria’s pushing on those doors to finally get them open,” she said. “Not only for her to walk through, but for her to lead literally millions of others.”
Clinton added, “She wasn’t going to be an astronaut, but my goodness, she made it possible for Sally Ride to be an astronaut. She wasn’t going to play college sports, but she stood behind the women in Congress who passed Title IX to open up opportunities in sports and academics for girls. And you know, she wasn’t on the Supreme Court when Roe v. Wade was decided, but her voice and her activism was behind that.”
“With all of the setbacks that we’ve seen over the last decade or so, I want her voice to remain in our heads,” Clinton said.
Clinton said Steinem “embodied possibility,” and pointed to how along with her personal achievements, she leaves a legacy of helping others that Clinton said she hopes young women will continue to fight for.
“It’s wonderful to do what you can to further your own future and to get the best education you can and to pursue your dreams, but it’s even greater to help bring other people along,” Clinton said. “And I want Gloria to make that real in the lives of young women. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t just narrow your world to the problems that you have. Find ways to reach out and lift up others. And when you do, it’s going to expand your universe.”
