Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem: Two ways to fight for women’s freedoms

Two legends passed away in this past month – Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem. While each has a distinct and vastly different persona, I see them both as pioneers of women’s rights and freedoms. Each did a great deal in entirely different ways to advance women’s rights and both were known far beyond America.

Dolly was not driven by a scripted feminist ideology nor did she preach it – she lived the life of a liberated woman defying stereotypes of what women should look, sound like, be and do.

Gloria, founder of Ms magazine and often considered a leader of the Second Wave Feminist movement was a fierce advocate of women’s rights and reproductive freedoms and spear-headed women’s protest movements for more than 50 years.

Dolly Parton is hardly anybody’s idea of a feminist icon but she certainly was one for me. Her over-the-top wigs, heavy rhinestone studded sexy costumes, huge bust, pinched waist and numerous plastic surgeries that she joked about to look the way she wanted to look could distract many from her surefootedness as a very astute businesswoman who made it in a man’s world.

Dolly was truly authentic and lived her life just as she had dreamed she wanted it to be – to be...

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