Remembering Gloria Steinem: The Power of Words, Women and Libraries

As a woman, it’s difficult to talk about Gloria Steinem without thinking about how much of the world she helped change for women everywhere. Her name has become synonymous with feminism, equality and activism, but before she was a movement leader, she was a writer. She understood the power of words to challenge what we had been told, question what we had accepted and give people the language to imagine something different. For many of us, that kind of change begins with a book and often times, a library.

Steinem grew up moving frequently and described libraries as an important part of her childhood. Because she didn’t attend school regularly until she was 11, books and librarians became an important source of learning and discovery. She remembered librarians giving her the freedom to explore what interested her, from Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys to books about dance and India. That freedom to explore is one of the things I personally love most about libraries.

A library doesn't tell you what you should think, it gives you the opportunity to think for yourself. It puts a book in your hands that might introduce you to an idea you've never considered, a person whose experience is completely different from your own or a story that makes you feel a little less alone. It gives us access to information, perspectives and voices that might otherwise never find their way into our lives. That is advocacy. And Gloria Steinem understood that. 

Honor Gloria Steinem’s lifelong dedication to advocacy and the power of words (both spoken and written) by checking out one of these titles from your library.

“I was rescued by librarians everywhere I went. Librarians saved my internal life.” - Gloria Steinem