Parton and Steinem Deaths Deliver Double Blow to Feminism
The deaths of cultural icon Dolly Parton and feminist pioneer Gloria Steinem, just eight days apart, have sent waves of grief through feminist communities across the United States and beyond. The two women embodied two towering versions of the same idea: that women should know themselves well enough to make their own choices about matters both intimate and societal, as AP News reported.
Parton, who died on August 25 at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer at Nashville’s Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, was the country music superstar whose songs and career redefined what a woman could achieve on her own terms. Steinem, who died on September 2 at age 92 at her home in New York City, was the most visible symbol of the American women’s movement for six decades, a co-founder of Ms. Magazine who spent her life advocating for equality.
“Dolly taught us to dream big. Gloria taught us to speak up,” wrote DeMond B Nason, a New York City singer. “Both reminded us that a woman could walk into a world that told her who she was supposed to be — and simply decide to become something else.”
Two Paths to Empowerment
Steinem represented the overtly political path of feminism: going undercover as a Playboy bunny to expose degrading conditions, founding the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971 with Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm and Bella Abzug, and spending her life urging women to support each other. Parton, by contrast, defined herself as a larger-than-life daughter of the American South who told stories with music and included everybody — but refused to play politics or call herself a feminist.
Asked directly in 2019 whether she considered herself a feminist, Parton replied flatly: “No, I do not.” She explained that she did not want to be associated with what she viewed as political extremes, even as she advocated for women through her music and business acumen. “I don’t do politics,” she said. “I have too many fans on both sides of the fence.”
Yet Parton was considered a feminist role model for holding the reins of her own career, writing her own songs, owning her content and managing her finances in an entertainment world dominated by men. She wrote about teenage pregnancy, abortion and adoption in “Down from Dover,” supported equal pay in “9 to 5,” and skewered double standards in songs like “Just Because I’m a Woman,” as AP News detailed.
Steinem Saw the Connection
Steinem insisted more than three decades ago that the pair fit together under the same feminist flag. In January 1987, when Ms. Magazine named Parton one of its “Women of the Year,” Steinem wrote a tribute that the magazine re-published after Parton’s death.
“People who haven’t listened to Dolly Parton or to feminism may be surprised to learn that they go together,” Steinem wrote. “She has used her business sense to bring other women and poor people along with her. And her flamboyant style has turned all the devalued symbols of women to her own ends.”
“If feminism means each of us finding our unique power, and helping other women to do the same,” she concluded, “Dolly Parton certainly has done both.”
The embrace wasn’t mutual, at least not publicly — and that, Parton acknowledged, was by design. But her fans heard feminism in her life and lyrics nonetheless. Author Lynn Melnick put it simply: “She didn’t tell us she was a feminist. She showed us — in her actions and her words and in her songs.”
A Movement Under Pressure
The double loss comes at a moment of deep uncertainty for the feminist movement. Steinem lived to see the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion. The Equal Rights Amendment remains unratified, and Americans have yet to elect a woman president. Feminism has splintered under pressure from public policy debates over abortion, the rise of Trump-era politics and the emergence of identity politics, as AP News reported.
Through policies and rhetoric, Trump administration officials — including Vice President JD Vance — as well as influential conservative groups have launched a campaign to encourage young women to marry quickly, have more children and prioritize family over career. The Heritage Foundation’s report “Saving America by Saving the Family” lamented what it called cultural upheavals that “radically changed social norms around sex, sexuality, marriage, children, and gender roles.”
Yet the progress made since the feminist movement’s peak is undeniable. About 58% of women 20 and older are in the labor force, jumping to 77% for women at prime working ages between 25 and 54. There are now 152 women serving in Congress, compared to just 11 in the late 1960s. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 secured rights that earlier generations could scarcely imagine.
A Political Divide in Mourning
Parton’s passing touched off immediate expressions of grief from across the political spectrum. President Trump ordered flags to be flown at half-staff through sunset September 1 as a mark of respect. Her fans in the LGBTQ+ community mourned a woman who had long been an ally.
In contrast, there was no such rush to recognize Steinem beyond her liberal and centrist constituency. Conservatives remained largely silent two days after her death, even as leading figures on the left paid tribute. Hillary Clinton said Steinem’s activism was rooted in optimism. Oprah Winfrey wrote that every woman who has “demanded equal pay, equal respect, ownership of her own body” is living “inside the progress Gloria helped create.” Jane Fonda recalled how Steinem “trudged through every airport in the country” to speak to women at conferences and town halls, as AP News reported.
Who Carries the Torch?
In her final essay published in The New Yorker on September 3, Steinem reflected on the state of the movement she helped build with characteristic optimism.
“As I write this, the world seems in a tailspin,” she wrote. “Many feel that all the progress we’ve made is being reversed. When you’re lucky enough to have lived a long life, as I have done, your role as an older person is to remind us how far we have come. Because of this movement, most people in the world have now seen women who are astronauts, union organizers and farmers, liberators and peacemakers.”
Steinem often said she was using her torch to light others. “If we each have a torch, there’s a lot more light,” she told the National Press Club in 2013. Social media offered evidence that supporters of both women would pass it on. Liz Webster, an American hair and makeup artist living in Germany, called Steinem and Parton “two very different women who shaped the way I saw what a woman could be.”
“Feminism will never be just a word to me,” she wrote. “The freedoms we have are incredibly new. So be the example. Use your freedom. Protect it. And make damn sure the women coming after us have even more.”
As the nation mourns two of its most consequential women — one who gave voice to the movement, the other who showed how feminism could be done with a microphone dusted in rhinestones and without apology — the question of who will carry their legacies forward remains open. What is clear is that both believed in women: in their ability to decide who they are, make their own choices, take care of one another and shape the world around them.