By now, you’ve probably heard the sad news that Gloria Steinem, the trailblazing feminist activist, has died at the age of 92. Known as a leader of second-wave feminism in the 1960s and 70s, her illustrious career as a writer, activist and public figure is legendary.
Born in Toledo, Ohio to a Jewish father and Protestant mother, Steinem’s goal of becoming a reporter took her across the globe before landing her in New York City, where she was appalled by the lack of opportunities and rampant sexual harassment women faced in the industry.
Her activism, as she later explained, was ignited when she was assigned a story about abortion in 1969. As someone who had had a secret abortion in her 20s, the battle over women’s rights struck a chord.
She went on to found Ms. magazine and, with Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm and Bella Abzug, the National Women’s Political Caucus. Throughout her long career, she never stopped fighting for feminist causes.
What is less commonly known about Steinem is that she was not the only trailblazing Jewish activist in her family. She took her cue from her Mama Einie – her dad’s mom, Pauline Perlmutter Steinem.
Born in 1866 to Jewish parents who had recently left Russia for Germany as part of a wave of Reform Judaism, Pauline was able to obtain more education than many women at the time. She graduated from a teachers’ seminary before marrying Joseph Steinem.
According to Gloria, Joseph had traveled to his native Germany to find a wife. He was supposed to be meeting Pauline’s older sister, but fell in love with Pauline instead.
The couple married in 1884 and eventually settled in Toledo, Ohio, where Pauline raised four sons, including Leo, Gloria’s father.
Pauline was a busy woman.
She was deeply involved in Toledo’s educational and Jewish communities. She served as president of the local chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women, chaired its Sabbath School Committee, worked with the Hebrew Associated Charities and Loan Association and led the Federation of Women’s Societies.
She also helped develop the Ohio Juvenile Court. And then she decided to run for the Toledo Board of Education.
It was a pretty bold move.
Pauline was unhappy with the state of Toledo’s schools and launched a boots-on-the-ground campaign, despite the fact that many men were unhappy about the idea of a woman running for office. One newspaper article even describes her being “chased from a Labor Day picnic by police.”
Pauline had another obstacle to overcome: Women couldn’t vote in most elections.
Ohio had granted women the right to vote in school board elections in 1894, but that didn’t mean everyone was happy about it. Men and boys sometimes swarmed polling places and harassed women who came to cast their ballots.
Pauline had a plan.
She organized groups of women to go to the polls together, ensuring that they would have each other’s support amid the chaos.
It worked. Pauline won the election by a wide margin, becoming the first woman elected to the Toledo Board of Education and the first woman elected to any public office in Toledo. Some historians believe she may have been the first Jewish woman elected to public office anywhere in the United States.
During her tenure, she pushed for limits on corporal punishment and helped establish vocational training. Her philosophy was: “Growth of character must be the purpose of all education.”
Pauline didn’t stop with the school board. She was also a tireless suffragist. She worked with the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association and, in 1908, traveled to Switzerland as one of two U.S. delegates to the International Council of Women’s conference. In 1913, she joined a march on Washington and testified before Congress.
In a time when a woman’s world was expected to revolve around the home, Pauline spent her life opening doors for women.
Though her granddaughter Gloria was only 5 when Pauline died in 1940, her activism became an inspiration. Gloria later wrote about the “sense of unity” she found in Pauline’s life and credited her mother, Ruth, with keeping her grandmother’s memory alive.
Pauline’s life was, in many ways, a preview of her granddaughter’s: Jewish, feminist, intellectually curious and deeply concerned with social justice.
For me, there is something especially meaningful about knowing that this history happened in Toledo, my hometown.
After living elsewhere for many years, it was with mixed emotions that my husband and I returned here to raise our kids. The Jewish community here is, as a friend once put it, “small but mighty.” In my day-to-day life, though, it can sometimes just feel small.
Pauline’s story is a reminder that small can be mighty, and that Jewish women have been making their mark on this city, this state and this country for a very long time.
Her legacy lived on in her granddaughter. Now that Gloria has passed as well, it’s up to the rest of us to keep it alive for the next generation of women, and the next, and the next.
New Year, More Kveller. A few dollars keeps Kveller joyfully, honestly free.
