Archive · 4 Sep 2026
How India Shaped Gloria Steinem’s Feminist Organizing Lessons
Gloria Steinem was an American feminist who visited India in 1956.
She stayed for two years and traveled among villages and communities.
Gandhian organizers taught her to listen carefully to people before asking them to join a movement.
In Tamil Nadu, she saw villagers sit in circles where everyone could speak and everyone had to listen.
She later used a similar idea in American women’s groups.
These groups became places where women could safely share problems and develop ideas together.
In 1976, Steinem and Devaki Jain interviewed Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay about Gandhi’s methods.
Chattopadhyay reminded them that ordinary people, especially women, had helped shape nonviolent resistance.
Steinem later called these “talking circles” one of the most important discoveries of her life.
Gloria Steinem spent two years in India after receiving a Chester Bowles Asian Fellowship in 1956.
Traveling with Gandhian groups taught Steinem the value of grassroots organizing and listening to communities.
In 1957, talking circles in Tamil Nadu showed her how open discussion and consensus could build collective action.
In 1976, Steinem and Devaki Jain interviewed Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay about Gandhi’s use of nonviolent resistance.
Chattopadhyay challenged their focus on Gandhi, emphasizing the role of ordinary people and women’s movements in shaping those tactics.
- Who
- Gloria Steinem, Devaki Jain, and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay are central figures; Mahatma Gandhi and women’s movements are discussed as influences.
- What
- Steinem learned organizing methods in India, including grassroots outreach, safe discussion spaces, listening, and consensus-building, which she later applied to American feminism.
- When
- Steinem lived in India from 1956 to 1958, observed village organizing in 1957, and interviewed Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay in 1976.
- Where
- The experiences took place in India, including villages in Tamil Nadu, the journey from Calcutta to Kerala, and New Delhi.
- Why
- Steinem and Jain sought lessons from Gandhian nonviolent resistance for women’s movements, while Steinem’s earlier experiences helped her develop an approach based on community discussion and participation.
- India stay
- Gloria Steinem spent two years in India after arriving in 1956 on a Chester Bowles Asian Fellowship.
- Interview
- Steinem and Devaki Jain interviewed Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay in New Delhi in 1976.
- Village organizing
- In 1957, Steinem joined Gandhian activists walking between villages in Ramnad, now Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu.
- Talking circles
- Village groups used circles in which people spoke in turn, listened to one another, and prioritized consensus.
- Travel experience
- Steinem traveled in a women-only railway car from Calcutta toward Kerala after giving up car-and-driver travel.
- Later application
- She connected her Indian experiences to organizing among women’s shelters, clinics, campus centers, and welfare protests in the United States.
- Core lesson
- Steinem concluded that people are more likely to listen when organizers first listen to them.