Getting to hear Gloria Steinem speak on October 19th
was truly an experience I will never forget, especially because what she spoke
about was so important; the upcoming election and the importance of voting. Ms.
Steinem started out by telling us about the time she spoke in Florida during
the 2000 presidential election and how out of the 700 people who came to hear
her speak about 100 of them were in a situation where they could not vote or
somehow their vote got lost or not counted. This really made me angry and kind
of scared that something like that could happen again. It also made me realize
how important it is to stand up for what you believe in and to fight for what’s
right and our right to vote can help us do that. To quote Ms. Steinem, “if you
don’t vote you are handing your life over to someone else; the power of the
government stops at our skin and that’s how the belief in reproductive freedom
protects people”.
There was a moment
during Ms. Steinem’s speech that really stuck out for me and it was when she
was asked a question from the audience about women of color and
activism/becoming an activist and she said “Don’t feel you have to fit into a
slot that already exists”, telling this young woman and all of us to carve our
own niche in society and that we don’t have to stick to the typical mold
society tells us to. Ms. Steinem also went on to say that women of color are
much more likely to be feminists than white women and that women of color are
more likely to vote in their own self-interest like women’s lib, equal
pay/rights, reproductive rights, etc.; “there are still some married, white
women who are voting 50% against themselves”. She finished this statement by
saying that we can have a feminist identity in different ways; we don’t necessarily
all have to call ourselves feminists. This is important because, while not all of us
have the same views or beliefs, we can unite together and become the change we
wish to see in the world. Hearing Gloria speak was truly inspirational and made me want to get out there and talk to people about the importance of voting and this election and how together we can make a difference.
