Living Up To Their Dreams: Gloria Feldt and Gloria Steinem on Making Movements
Celebrating 10 years of Take The Lead (L-R): Adriana Shaw, founder of Herflix; Maggie McGrath, editor-in-chief of Forbes Woman; Gloria Steinem; Jamia Wilson; Gloria Feldt; journalist and playwright Keli Goff; Briana Franklin, founder of The Prosperity Project; and board member Susan Arnot Heaney
For Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead, it was watching Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” in the theater as a young girl that taught her anything was possible.
“It was the first movie I saw where the female was the protagonist. Dorothy was a role model when girls did not have role models,” Feldt said in the recent lively conversation with Gloria Steinem and Jamia Wilson, author and activist.
For Steinem, co-founder of Ms. Magazine, feminist icon, journalist and social justice activist, the movie that changed her was “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” with Audrey Hepburn. “She was out there having dreams,” Steinem said.
Wilson, who met Feldt two decades ago as a staff member at Planned Parenthood, where Feldt was president, told the audience of close to 1,000 from New York to Cambodia, Botswana, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Bahrain, India and more, “I am so blessed to be mentored and supported by these two glorious Glorias.” She added, “I look back and see what they taught me about the power to uplift others.”
““I am so blessed to be mentored and supported by these two glorious Glorias.” — Jamia Wilson, speaking of @GloriaFeldt and @GloriaSteinem. #womenleaders”
Celebrating 10 years of Take The Lead’s accomplishments, including programs for more than 5,000 participants and events, Feldt said in that time, more than 1.5 million people have been reached and women’s leadership has increased from 18 to 35 percent.
“I feel so pleased and proud of the work Take The Lead does. I could not have imagined we would have gotten to this place,” Feldt said.
““I feel so pleased and proud of the work @Takeleadwomen does. I could not have imagined we would have gotten to this place,” @GloriaFeldt said. #genderparity”
Feldt, who was a teen mom in Texas, with three children by the time she was 20, said she learned about people working together from the Civil Rights Movement.
“I saw that people working together could change anything. Women were doing the work and men were getting the credit. It was an epiphany moment,” said Feldt, who ran Planned Parenthood for three decades.
“I realized we will keep fighting the same battles over and over, so we need to take it to the next level,” Feldt said.
For Steinem, who co-founded the Women's Action Alliance and helped establish Take Our Daughters to Work Day, her ‘aha’ moment was when she was in India after college and wanted to learn about the Gandhi movement. “I learned that the women’s movement against patriarchal practices was the basis of the Gandhi movement. Then I realized this country needed a justice movement.”
Read more in Take The Lead on Gloria Steinem event
Working as a freelance journalist, Steinem said, “I realized women’s voices were nowhere.” As the co-founder of MS. Magazine, she said, “I had faith that there were people out there.”
“Working as a freelance journalist, @GloriaSteinem said, “I realized women’s voices were nowhere.” #womenleaders”
Wilson, Random House vice president and executive editor and former director of the Feminist Press at the City University of New York, asked both guests to describe to define a leader.
“A leader is someone who gets stuff done,” Feldt said. “Everybody is a leader from where they are. It is important for women to understand the power they already have.”
““Everybody is a #leader from where they are. It is important for women to understand the #power they already have.” — @GloriaFeldt.”
Steinem, who also helped form The National Women’s Political Caucus., said, “We have a big advantage because we don’t have our masculinity to prove. The family is often the model of social organization. You learn to listen; it is helpful paradigm and certainly different from most corporations.”
Wilson, author of Together We Rise and Young, Gifted, and Black, added, “You stay the course and trust your internal GPS. It is learning to embrace and trust what you know about yourself.”
Steinem said, “We need to speak as much as we listen. Because without listening, conflict continues and learning suspends.”
Read more in Take The Lead on recovery
Feldt agreed. “The core of the whole curriculum I developed for Take The Lead and the research I did for No Excuses helps women shift the mindset of power as oppressive. Once you realize power is energy and it’s what you do with it, make it the power TO run for office, lead a company.” She added, “It starts with that mindset change, but you need the skills, tools and our sisterhood.”
““The core of the whole curriculum I developed for @Takeleadwomen and the research I did for #NoExcuses helps women shift the mindset of power as oppressive.” — @GloriaFeldt. #powerTO”
She added, “There will be pushbacks and setbacks.”
Aligning with a community of likeminded people is essential, Steinem said. “We are communal animals. There is a reason that solitary confinement if the worst punishment. We need companionship. We need to be communal to be strong.”
That strength is power. “We have more power than we thought we had,” Feldt said. “It is a mindset, a realization. There is the power of the cohort, the power of having a plan to change whatever your cause may be.“
Listen to Take The Lead podcast with Gloria Feldt and Gloria Steinem
Looking back on all the accomplishments of Take The Lead in the last 10 years, Feldt is also looking ahead. “As we look towards the next 10 years, we have had 10 cohorts, and there are several sectors in need—technology, financial, climate change, politics,” Feldt said.
Steinem, who co-founded the Women's Media Center, said, “Even if you don’t have an example to follow, you can explore ways you can make change happen.”
Feldt told Wilson that she was indeed an inspiration. “You have a clear set of values and backbone to speak them and use them.”
Participants in the recent 50 Women in Entrepreneurship cohort at Take the Lead also inspire Feldt. “When asked why they built their business, in every case their story had to do with something with a higher purpose than themselves.”
Speaking about the inspiration she received from her mother, Wilson said if she spoke about a tough time, “My mom said, ‘Can you get back up?’ She said she could do that no matter what was thrown her way.”
“As long as we remember someone, they are alive,” Steinem said.
Feldt also acknowledged the benefits of taking a longer view. “I feel exceedingly fortunate to live long enough that I can see that you can make a difference. It is easy to get deflated, but if you get to see the long arc of history, it does bend towards justice.”
““It is easy to get deflated, but if you get to see the long arc of history, it does bend towards #justice.” — @GloriaFeldt.”
Addressing the need for male allyship, Wilson said, “It is in the best interest of men to embrace equality and justice for women.”
Read more in Take The Lead on Jamia Wilson
“We all have someplace where we can find friends, colleagues and revolutionaries around us, wherever we are,” Steinem said.
During this election season, Steinem said, power is in voting. “If we don’t vote, we don’t exist. It is absolutely crucial.” She added, “We all have to treat reproductive freedom at least as important as the freedom of speech. We can’t take no for an answer.”
““We all have to treat #reproductive freedom at least as important as the freedom of speech.” — @GloriaSteinem. ”
Leadership Takeaway of the Week:
“Even if you don’t have an example to follow, you can explore ways you can make change happen.”
Gloria Steinem, co-founder of MS. Magazine, author, journalist and co-founder of the Women's Action Alliance.
