Feminist icon Gloria Steinem to be honored in Tampa next month

Gloria Steinem, an American icon who helped created Ms. magazine some 43 years ago, will receive the first ever Helen Gordon Davis Women’s Leadership Award on Wednesday, February 11, at a luncheon hosted by the Centre for Women at the Crowne Plaza Tampa Westshore. Proceeds from the event will go towards the Centre for Women, which was created by former state Senator Davis back in 1977 to help women in the Tampa Bay region.

“What an incredible moment in our history to celebrate the efforts of these two remarkable women, both tenacious champions for women’s rights,” said Ann W. Madsen, Executive Director for the Centre. She said that as a way to honor Davis, the Centre for Women will host an annual “Waves of Change” event each year to celebrate the accomplishments of women and to present the annual leadership award. She added that Ms. Davis personally choose Steinem to the be their inaugural recipient.

Described as the face of feminism, Steinem “occupies a singular place in American culture,” wrote New York Times columnist Gail Collins last March, after the feminist icon turned 80. She co-founded Ms. magazine in 1972, and over the years has written a number of books, including four best-sellers. A decade ago she co-founded the Women’s Media Center, an organization that works to make women “visible and powerful in the media.” She currently travels internationally as an organizer and lecturer.

Helen Gordon Davis is something of a living legend in Tampa. The native New Yorker moved to Florida in 1948, and in 1952 became the first white woman in Florida to join the NAACP. In 1974 she became the first woman from Hillsborough County elected to the state legislature, where she served six terms in the state House before being elected to the state Senate.

Tickets are available at thecentre.org, or by calling Gail King, in the Advancement Office of the Centre for Women at 813-251-8437 x225.Feminist icon Gloria Steinem to be honored in Tampa next month