A blog of the History and Public Policy Program
From 1957 to 1959, Gloria Steinem spent crucial years in India studying its culture, politics, and grassroots activism, which profoundly shaped her later feminist work. Her experiences, including a deep engagement with Theosophy and political movements, helped her develop a unique, inclusive approach to social change, emphasizing the power of community-driven, grassroots efforts.
Before emerging as a world-famous feminist leader, Gloria Steinem spent several formative years studying Indian culture and politics. From 1957 to 1959, fresh out of college, Steinem traveled across the newly independent country, learning firsthand about grassroots activism, political movements, and the power of community discussions, all while deeply embedded in Cold War cultural politics emblematic of that time. These experiences would later shape her approach to feminist organizing back home.
When asked why she chose to go to India, Steinem often gave a straightforward answer: she wanted to avoid getting married. Despite being engaged, she felt uneasy about settling into the traditional role of a housewife. At the time, such roles were the norm for women, but Steinem sensed that path wasn’t right for her. “India was not only a place I’d always wanted to go,” she wrote in Doing Sixty and Seventy, “but an escape from a very kind and tempting man to whom I was engaged and knew I shouldn’t marry.”[1] Travel abroad offered her both a literal and figurative escape.
When the opportunity arose to apply for the Chester Bowles Asian Fellowship—a stipend that funded an academic year in India at the University of New Delhi—Steinem jumped at the chance. But her decision wasn’t just about running away from something; it was also about running toward something. She was eager to explore a place she’d studied and admired for years.
Theosophy played a significant role in shaping Steinem’s early life and worldview. As a child, she often attended lodge meetings with her mother and grandmother, who were deeply committed to the philosophy. Theosophy’s core ideas, influenced by Hinduism, emphasizing moral living, generosity, and spiritual inclusivity, combined with her mother’s openness and lack of prejudice, left a lasting impression on the young Gloria. Her engagement with the philosophy deepened over time. She read extensively from Theosophical texts and later explored the works of Jiddu Krishnamurti, discussing these ideas with classmates at Smith College. India, the birthplace of much Theosophical thought, held special meaning for her, inspiring her journey of self-discovery. Her immersion in Theosophy not only prepared her for India’s spiritual teachings, but also shaped her transformative experiences there, establishing it as a pivotal chapter in her personal and intellectual growth.
At Smith College, she took classes that focused on Indian history and politics. In particular, Professor Vera Micheles Dean’s course on Indian political history caught her imagination. Dean’s courses on comparative government and Modern India promoted a nuanced understanding of international dynamics and cultural diversity. Steinem, reflecting on her education in a discussion with her biographer, Carolyn Heilbrun, highlighted Dean's unique approach:
“And, of course, I'd had this wonderful teacher, Vera Micheles Dean, who was very good, really, because she was culturally sensitive without being a cultural relativist. I mean, she just understood that, probably, if she didn't enjoy being dirty and being beaten, then other people didn't either. She figured that probably, if they were passive, it was malnutrition, not a conscious decision. But on the other hand, you know, she was very sensitive to diversity, so she wasn't telling you that there was one right way.”[2]
Later, during her junior year studying abroad in Geneva, she wrote a paper about the workings of the Communist Party of India. Though she had initially “had this great romance with Marxism,” as she described in a conversation with Heilbrun, “the truth was that this was being chipped away at by a variety of things, and chief among them was my experience in India because, of course, the communists became anathema in India because they supported the British. They didn’t support the independence movement.”[3]
This experience, initially inspired by Dean’s mentorship, was pivotal in shaping Steinem’s understanding of political ideologies, directly impacting her decision to travel to India and her subsequent disavowal of simplistic ideological affiliations. When Steinem arrived in India, she had more than just a tourist’s interest. She understood that India was navigating a post-colonial era, struggling to balance tradition and modernity, and experimenting with new forms of governance and social reform. Instead of seeing Indian villages as places disconnected from her own life, she was prepared to watch, listen, and learn. “My becoming an itinerant feminist organizer was just a Western version of walking in villages,” she wrote in her book, My Life on the Road.[4] The people she met and the conversations she had there would show her that social change often starts at the grassroots level, led by women who might never call themselves “feminists” but who were, in fact, doing revolutionary work.
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