25 (non-Bravo) real life housewives who are pretty badass

Gloria Steinem

Of course Gloria Steinem would make it on a list about amazing women who just so happen to also be wives and mothers. And because she comes from a different wave of feminism than I do, she also might take issue with the word housewife. But us fourth wavers are approaching these labels and monikers from a very different perspective, and if anybody could get on board with that, it’s Gloria Steinem.

Steinem was married to David Bale (father of actor Christian Bale) for only three years before he tragically died of brain cancer. Postponing marriage (and deferring traditional motherhood altogether) was another way that Steinem broke boundaries and set precedents for gender politics. Even the most radical feminists can feel pressure to get married in their thirties and start having children immediately, but Steinem chose to blaze her own path in that regard.

As she aged, Steinem commented on what it was like to get older as a woman, speaking to a lot of female insecurities and conventions. She said getting older freed her from the “demands of gender” she’d suffered since adolescence. This may not seem radical to some, but one walk down the lotions and creams aisle of your local pharmacy will tell you how oppressive the idea of aging is for women.

I don’t want to reduce Steinem’s contribution to just one thing, because, above all else, she’s one of the mothers of modern feminism. She founded Ms. magazine, which offered articles on far more than how to “please your man” and co-founded the Women’s Media Center with Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan. She’s a pretty well-rounded badass that can tell me how to live my life in every way. In fact, I wish she would.