Gloria Steinem Has Some Important Advice This International Women’s Day

Gloria Steinem has some advice for women this International Women’s Day, which many will be celebrating with marches, rallies, and a strike. The feminist icon spoke with Elle UK about her series WOMAN, and also offered candid remarks about President Donald Trump and self-confidence.

Steinem described Trump’s November 2016 electoral victory a “coup,” and explained that she saw it as an eye-opener. “‘There are various leaders who are right wing, antifeminist and anti-equality around the world who’ve put an end to the idea that there is a post-racist or post-feminist era,” she said. “They’ve unified and electrified people in a new way.” Now, the challenge is combatting that energy, and even though the women’s movement has come a long way from where it started, it still has a long way to go. “We know that we are not crazy we know the system is crazy – a very important realization,” Steinem said.

Her advice this International Women’s Day is simple: “I would just say to individual women trust your own sense of what needs to be done, reach out for support from other women and men,” she said. “A beginning of a movement is a chosen family, it grows and grows.”

[Elle UK]