Gloria Steinem's Address to the Women of America

For my Typography class, our next project is to choose a speech from the 20th Century. With the audio of the speech I have chosen, I will be creating a typographic expression/visual of the speech. I chose Gloria Steinem's Address to the Women of America.


Who is speaking?

Gloria Steinem, an American feminist, journalist and social and political activist

Why was/is the speech important to society?

This speech addresses the equality of women and other races, and questions the fairness of some things in America. This speech was given at the height of the Women’s Movement.

Why do you feel in is important or interesting?

I think it is interesting because the speech was made during a critical time in Women’s Rights. This speech is relevant today because of the movements and everything going on with trying to stop Planned Parenthood.

What is the emotion, mood, tone, personality, feeling of the speech?

This speech is powerful and strong, as well as hopeful and courageous. It is not a sad speech, but rather one that is empowering other women and minorities.

What is intonation, emphasis, what is loud, stressed, or soft. Where are there pauses...

There is an emphasis on many powerful words, and there are also many pauses in between phrases and sentences. She stays strong and powerful through the whole speech, and never softens her voice.

What do you FEEL should be loud or soft, long pause or ruhed?

She rushes a few words together, but most of her phrases are steady.

Is there a call to action? When listening to it what are key/emphasized words?
The words/phrases “revolution,” superior and inferior groups,” “chosen” “earned” and “humanism” are all emphasized. While there isn’t and call to action directly stated here, there is a general feeling that Gloria is hoping will grab peoples attention and make a difference.

How does it make you feel?

It is nice to hear a woman speak about fairness and humanism in the world. It is a positive speech that is powerful.

How do imagine that the audience felt?

I can imagine the audience felt like they should support the Womens movement and really try to make a difference. Because most prominent figures during this time were men, I'm sure most women were thrilled to be hearing powerful words from a women.

Could there be another interpretation of the speech?

For someone who didn’t believe in Women’s rights, another interpretation of this speech could be that it is negative and useless.

Write/find a short bio, of the person giving the speech.

Gloria Marie Steinem (born March 25, 1934) is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader of, and media spokeswoman for, the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s. A prominent writer and political figure, Steinem has founded many organizations and projects and has been the recipient of many awards and honors. She was a columnist for New York magazine and co-founded Ms. magazine. In 1969, she published an article, "After Black Power, Women's Liberation" which, along with her early support of abortion rights, catapulted her to national fame as a feminist leader. In 2005, Steinem worked alongside Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan to co-found the Women's Media Center, an organization that works to amplify the voices of women in the media through advocacy, media and leadership training, and the creation of original content. Steinem currently serves on the board of the organization. She continues to involve herself in politics and media affairs as a commentator, writer, lecturer, and organizer, campaigning for candidates and reforms and publishing books and articles.


The Speech:


This is no simple reform. It really is a revolution. Sex and race because they are easy and visible differences have been the primary ways of organizing human beings into superior and inferior groups and into the cheap labour in which this system still depends. We are talking about a society in which there will be no roles other than those chosen or those earned. We are really talking about humanism.