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64 | GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com of activists in Cambridge, Massachuses, to organize the Independent Ser vice for Information on the Vienna Festival, which was intended to advocate for A merican participation in the World Youth Festival, a Soviet-sponsored event. Steinem openly opposed the Vietnam War and signed the 1968 "War Ta x Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse to make ta x payments in protest. However, fighting for women's equality is the cause for which Steinem will always be k nown. Her 1969 article, Aer Black Power, Women's Liberation, skyrocketed her to national fame as a feminist leader. As such, she campaigned for the Equal R ights A mendment, testif ying in its favor before the Senate Judiciar y Commiee in 1970. at same year, she published her essay for TIME magazine, W hat It Would Be Like If Women Win, in which she describes the benefits of utopian gender equality. On July 10, 1971, Steinem was one of over 300 women, including such notables as Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm, who founded the National Women's Political Caucus (N W PC). As a co-convener of the caucus, she delivered the speech, "Address to the Women of A merica," stating in part: "is is no simple reform. It really is a revolution. Sex and race because they are easy and visible differences have been the primar y ways of organizing human beings into superior and inferior groups and into the cheap labor on which this system still depends. We are talk ing about a society in which there will be no roles other than those chosen or those earned. We are really talk ing about humanism." Apart from her commitment to the Equal R ights A mendment, abortion rights, equal pay for women and ending domestic violence, Steinem spoke out against the 1991 Gulf War and the Iraq War launched in 2003. Embodying the self-assured, independent lifestyle she'd always promoted for women, Steinem remained single throughout most of her life, with few exceptions, one being her four-year relationship with publisher Mortimer Zuckerman. en, at the age of 66, Steinem married David Bale (father of actor Christian Bale). e wedding took place at the home of her good friend, Wilma Mank iller—the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. ere was some public back lash considering Steinem had in the past said of marriage, "Marriage works beer for men than women." With her characteristic good humor, Steinem deflected the remarks says she " had always hoped women would choose to marr y if and when it was the right choice for them." Sadly, Bale died three years later of brain lymphoma at age 62. Steinem's vigilance has not faltered over time as she continues to be a global women's advocate. In 2015, she released a book, My Life on the Road, calling herself a "wandering organizer." She explains how a life of travel boosted her spirits, shaped her politics and made her a household name. Whether speak ing on college campuses, work ing as a journalist or campaigning for political justice, Steinem followed her fathers example of a life in perpetual motion. Rather than selling trinkets, she choose a path of purpose. At 81-years-old, she remains a steadfast voice for social justice. Photos cour tesy GloriaStenim.com

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