Gloria Steinem's 75th Birthday Wishes

From Her remarks at our 24th Annual Luncheon

Many people have asked us to share Ms. Steinem's birthday wishes, which she mentioned in her remarks at our 24th Annual Luncheon. In honor of turning 75 this year, Ms. Steinem made the following nine wishes that would make the world better for women and girls.

1. On marriage equality: I want all grown-ups to be able to get married as long as they don't hit each other.
2. On pornography: I want to walk past the newsstand and see a lot of erotica and no pornography.
3. On fair budgets: I want schools and childcare centers to have a military budget, and the military to have the school and childcare budget--provided they use that budget for peacekeeping.
4. On the media: I want to turn on the news and see women and men of all colors and ages reporting what went right, as well as what went wrong. And I don't want to see everything divided into two. It is ready-made hostility in the media. In Japan, when they are discussing something important, they at least have three people. That alone is like water in the desert.
5. On non-violence: I want us all to know that you can't reach useful ends by violent means.
6. On institutionalized inequality: I want to walk into Central Park and see as many white guys wheeling babies of color as there are nannies of color wheeling white babies. And I want all of them to be well paid.
7. On work-life balance: I want to turn on Oprah and see a show about men trying to combine work and family.
8. On race and racism: I want all of us to understand, we all came from Africa, all of us.
9. On healing: I hope that we learn from the original wisdom of this country, the land on which we stand, which is that it took four generations to heal one violent act.

We want to know your "wishes," too--visit www.cfw.org/25 to share how you can make the world better for women and girls. Bookmark that page for upcoming information about our just-launched 25th anniversary year.

And as always, check out our upcoming events at www.cfw.org/events and on our Facebook fan page.