Profile of Gloria Steinem Since the founding of Ms. magazine in 1971, Gloria Steinem has been a feminist ideal for young women and men. She has devoted her life to persuading all kinds of women to believe in themselves, has lent an influential voice to the cause of immigrant farmworkers in California, and has helped to persuade Democratic political leaders to include women_s issues in their platforms. An example of Steinem's views on the last presidential election, along with information about her Internet interests, can be found in an interview that was conducted on-line. As a feminist, Steinem has had a major impact on the magazine industry. She developed a solid reputation as a reporter and magazine writer, founded Ms. in 1971, and later helped convert it to a no-advertising publication to avoid the impact of sexist advertising on its content One admirer has posted an explanation of how Steinem viewed advertising from cosmetic companies. Steinem grew up in a tenement in Toledo, Ohio. Her emotionally ill mother, Ruth, had once been a newspaper journalist who wrote under a male pseudonym. Steinem_s parents were divorced when she was ten. When Steinem was old enough, she worked evenings and weekends as a waitress and shop assistant. She also tap-danced in chorus lines. While she told the world that everything was all right, she and her mother lived in a rat- infested basement. However, she graduated from Smith College and then spent a year in India with the followers of the spiritual leader Mahatma Ghandi before starting her professional career. She advises women to use their backgrounds to learn and to grow. When she returned to the United States from India, she wrote for New York Magazine and Esquire, building a reputation as a reporter and establishing a network. Her political involvement in women s causes began in 1969 at an abortion law reform rally, where she listened to other women talk about being offended by sexist jokes and about having abortions and other experiences, some of them similar to hers. Inspired, Steinem cofounded the national feminist publication Ms. A recent example of Steinem's writing appears in a book focusing on how workers around the world keep heart and soul together. Today, Steinem continues to be active in women_s issues as president of the Voters for Choice Education Fund and through other volunteer work. Three short profiles DeWitt Wallace (1889-1981) was born in St. Paul, Minn. He dropped out of the University of California, worked at various jobs and collected magazine articles. He married Lila Bell Acheson (1889-1984), a social worker in 1921. One year later, they launched the Reader's Digest--a publication of condensed articles from other sources--as a mail-order magazine with 1,500 subscribers. Later published in different languages and sold in various countries, it became the largest circulation magazine in the world. He and Lila were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1972. Their legacy includes the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund which is dedicated to providing opportunity for young people. For more information, see page 149 of The Media In Your Life.   Louisa May Alcott (1832--1888) was born in Germantown, Penn. Alcott received great notoriety as a children's writer. Her string of successes began in 1868 when she wrote Little Women, a book based on her own experiences. Then came Good Wives (1869), An Old Fashioned Girl (1870) Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys, among many other works. You can learn more about Alcott by visiting her web page at the National Women's Hall of Fame. For more information, see page 146 of The Media In Your Life.   Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt (1858--1919) was born in New York City, and went to Harvard. He led the New York legislature in 1884 and served in the army during the Spanish American War (1898), where he organized the "Roughriders" (a volunteer cavalry unit). Roosevelt was elected New York's governor in 1898 and U.S. vice-president in 1900. He became president after President William McKinley's assassination in 1901. Roosevelt was re-elected in 1904 and introduced the "Square Deal" for social reform. Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his part in ending the Russo-Japanese War. He also supported the building of the Panama Canal and promoted regulation of trusts and monopolies. For more information, see page 147 of The Media In Your Life.  Return to top.