February 8, 2005 Gloria Steinem To Speak, Lead Workshop Today At Boise State

Activist and writer Gloria Steinem will speak at 7 p.m. today in the Boise State Student Union Jordan Ballroom, and will follow her lecture with an audience question-and-answer session and book signing.   The lecture is free and tickets are not required, but early arrival is encouraged. The doors open at 6 p.m. for general seating, and overflow crowds will be able to view Steinem via video in the Hatch Ballroom.   Steinem will also lead a workshop for about 75 local activists, Boise State staff and students focusing on motivating human rights activists for “the long haul.” The workshop is not open to the public.   “We are thrilled to bring Gloria Steinem to Boise State,” said Melissa Wintrow, director of the Boise State Women’s Center. “The Women’s Center upholds the feminist values of equality, justice and human rights for all people.”   Steinem travels worldwide as a lecturer and is a frequent media spokeswoman on issues of equality. She co-founded Ms. magazine in 1972 and was one of its editors for 15 years. She also helped to found New York magazine, where she worked as a political columnist.   Steinem continues to serve as a consulting editor and columnist for Ms. and was instrumental in the magazine’s recent move to join forces with the nonprofit Feminist Majority Foundation. Her books include the bestsellers Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, Moving Beyond Words, and Marilyn: Norma Jean, on the life of Marilyn Monroe.   Steinem helped found the Women’s Action Alliance, a national center for information and advocacy in such areas as nonsexist, multiracial children’s education and communication among women’s groups, and the National Women’s Political Caucus, a nonpartisan organization devoted to advancing pro-equality women of all races. She is president of Voters for Choice, an independent bipartisan political action committee that supports candidates working for reproductive freedom. Steinem is also a founding president of the Ms. Foundation for Women, a national, multiracial women’s fund that supports grassroots projects to empower women and girls.   After growing up primarily in the Midwest where her unconventional childhood included no full year of schooling until she was 12, Steinem graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College in 1956. Following graduation, she lived in India for almost two years as a Chester Bowles Asian Fellow. There she wrote for Indian publications and was influenced by Ghandian activism.   As both a writer and an activist, she remains particularly interested in the shared origins of sex and race caste systems; gender roles and child abuse as the roots of violence; non-violent conflict resolution; the cultures of indigenous people; and in organizing across national boundaries for peace and justice.   The Boise State Women’s Center supports students in their personal and academic development, and promotes social change by providing students with educational outreach, support services and a safe place.   For more information, call the Women’s Center at 426-4259 or visit http://womenscenter.boisestate.edu.   -30-   Contact: Melissa Wintrow, Women’s Center, (208) 426-4259, mwintrow@boisestate.edu                                                               Media Contact: Sherry Squires, News Services, (208) 426-1563, ssquires@boisestate.edu, or Anna Fritz, communications and marketing, (208) 426-1577, afritz@boisestate.edu