GILL — A crowd of students roared as Gloria Steinem walked up to the podium at Northfield Mount Hermon to speak on Tuesday night about the philosophies that defined her life’s work as a political organizer and leader in the 20th-century women’s rights movement.
After spending the day mingling with students and faculty at the school, Steinem addressed an audience in the school’s Memorial Chapel to talk about a range of issues, from reproductive justice to environmental issues. The school live-streamed the talk and it will also be available on the school’s website on Wednesday. The talk was not open to the public.
Steinem highlighted the way that feminism and sexism contribute to and are interconnected with other global problems, including economic and environmental issues. She said that forcing women to have unwanted children is a huge factor in overpopulation, which then contributes to the destruction of the environment.
She also touched on the subject of equal pay for equal work, stating that there would be more money stimulating the economy if women were compensated fairly.
“It is so crucial that we make these connections,” she said, also explaining that caring about women is everyone’s job, not just women and not just activists. “It’s said that God is in the details, but the goddess is in the connections.”
She said she has seen the growth of support for feminism over the years, but there is still a need to fight against the normalization of sexism.
A feminist icon, Steinem fought a long battle for the women’s rights movement. After she graduated from Smith College, she went on to help found Ms. Magazine and the Women’s Media Center.
Monday, Steinem returned to Smith College campus to tell her story and share her ideas with a new generation of women. At both talks she addressed comments that she made that stirred controversy in the media about young women who support Bernie Sanders when she appeared on the “Real Time with Bill Maher” in February.
“When you’re young, you’re thinking: ‘Where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie,’” Steinem said on the HBO show. She told the audience that her comments were misunderstood and taken out of context.
At the end of the talk, the crowd responded with a loud applause. “I found it really interesting. I didn’t expect her to go so deeply into issues beyond feminism,” said Delaney Kavanaugh, a student at Northfield Mount Hermon.
The evening talk was supported by the school’s Jacqueline Smethurst Series, which was established in 1998 to bring significant speakers and performers to campus. The goal of the series is to enrich the intellectual and cultural life of the school.
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