WMC: Happy Birthday Gloria Steinem!

Dear  Shellen Harriet, Today is Gloria Steinem's birthday!  In celebration, we have pulled a WMC Feature from our archives, Gloria In Her Own Words:  Notes From A Young Feminist, by Shelby Knox. Photo Credit: Jenny Warburg 2011 WMC Gala Gloria co-founded The Women's Media Center in 2005 with Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan.  Last year, Gloria told The New York Times  how important media is to her personally when she said, "It's hard to think of anything except air, food and water that is more important than the media… I've spent most of my life working in the media.  That has made me hyperaware of how it creates for us the idea of normal, whether or not the normal is accurate. Especially for groups that have been on the periphery for whatever reason: If we can't see it, we can't be it." DONATE — Support Gloria's work to make women and girls visible and powerful in media! Last year, on Women's Media Center Live with Robin Morgan, Gloria joined journalists Carol Jenkins, Geneva Overholser and Soraya Chemaly in a powerful discussion about gender, race and media and the sudden firing of Jill Abramson, the first woman to serve as Executive Editor of The New York Times. When President Barack Obama presented Gloria with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, I was honored to make this press statement about our visionary WMC Co-Founder:  "For over four decades, Gloria has struggled for political and social equality and justice. We have come to take it for granted that she will always be where she is most needed, at the podium, on TV, on the plane, phone, or at the computer, to make the ideal of social justice a reality. Her phrases have become the motto of our era. Her activism and fundraising have directly transformed the constitution of Congress and state legislatures. Women are in these places because of the endeavors of Gloria Steinem.  The history of the women's movement has been a struggle for women's voices to be heard. In the tradition of Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Gloria has forever changed the 20th and 21st centuries for women and men through her words and actions. Her brilliant writing, tireless advocacy, intelligence and humor have carried and propelled our dreams.  We are so proud that President Obama honors her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom." Every day and in every action, Gloria helps us see it,  so we can be it.  Today, we wish her a very happy birthday! DONATE — Support Gloria's work to make women and girls visible and powerful in media! In sisterhood, Julie Burton President, Women's Media Center