Gloria Steinem and the relationship between women's rights and racism

Part of my job that i love is that during a couple seasons--affectionately referred to as lunch seasons--i attend a lot of fundraising lunches for organizations that have missions or partnerships supported by the hospital. Today was the YWCA King County lunch. First, before i get to Ms. Steinem--who really is a force unto herself--i want to mention that the YWCA served 57,000 people in our county last year with services. A lot of the work they do involves women escaping domestic violence--which is certainly a cause i can get behind.

At each lunch, they bring in a speaker. I talked a while back about having the pleasure of hearing Geoffery Canada from Harlem Children's Zone and Tavis Smiley speak at lunches i've been honored to attend. Today, me and 2500 of my closest Seattleite buddies all got to her the lovely Ms. Gloria. I jacked this next paragraph from wikipedia in case you didn't know who she is:

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 is today considered one of American history's most important women and one of the most transformative figures of the twentieth century.
First, she ephasized that the YWCA provides a few things the country really needs:
1. Foundational work--ie the strengthening of healthy families/healthy women/mothers
2. A recognition that empowerment must start with the least powerful among us
3. That leadership should create independance rather than dependance upon a single leader. She gave the example of Wilma Mankiller who was the first female Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

She talked about what would be different if the YWCA ran the world. She talked about how schools would have the miliary's budget, that we would know that beauty is about individualism and authenticness, not collective identity and conformist ritual, that aesthetics are subject to the winds of politics and behavior--our standard of beauty in this country changes with the times and political goals. For example, when after the war they wanted the Baby Boomers to boom mini-humans, the standard of beauty was Marilyn Monroe and her curvacious self....and when we were done with that, we looked to skinny super models. Gloria focused on the intertwined nature of racism and sexism...that were you find racism you will undoubtedly also find the oppression of women...and that these start in the home, where we learn our behaviors. Thus we must all fight both.

Interestingly, towards the end she talked about how women are most likely to be killed in a domestic violence situtation when they are leaving or have just left, because the power and control center is uprooted from its previous base. She likened it to the rise of hate rhetoric in this country, increase in gun ownership, and the murders or abortion doctors...our country is trying to set itself free and those who have previously help power are becoming collectively loud about their displeasure with the transition from anglo-centric to anglo-minority. The means, she says, define the ends. How you conduct the means will tell-tale the way the ends are received.