MOTHERHOOD MEANS BUSINESS
Rethinking Motherhood, work and leadership—challenging what we value and who gets credit for the expertise they bring to the paid workplace.
GLORIA STEINEM DID NOT PASS HER TORCH—SHE SHARED THE LIGHT
Gloria Steinem spent decades expanding what was possible for women—and using her own torch to light the way for others. My research on Motherhood and leadership stands in that light, continuing the work of feminism’s unfinished businesses: Motherhood.
This week, as remembrances flood news outlets and social media, one image appears again and again: the same storied room—books, art, women gathered in a circle, and Gloria in that bright red chair.
The talking circle in Gloria Steinem’s living room, New York City, July 9, 2026. Photo by MaxwellPicswell.
I understand now why that room means so much.
It wasn’t simply where Gloria lived. It was a place where women gathered to imagine what should come next.
And this summer, I had the extraordinary privilege of being one of them. But long before I entered the glow of Gloria’s intimate living room, I first encountered her light from a much greater distance.
On November 21, 2019, I went to Seattle’s Paramount Theatre with my friends Barbara Platzer and Tara Clark, two changemakers that were original members of Feminist Friday—a savvy group of engaged Seattle women who gathered to talk about life, politics, advocacy, lifting one another up and bringing the patriarchy down.
November 21, 2019, Seattle's Paramount Theatre was a stop on Gloria Steinem's book tour.
We were there to hear Gloria speak about The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off!
I remember leaving feeling inspired. And pissed off.
I could not have imagined that, nearly seven years later, I would walk into Gloria Steinem’s living room. Or that I would have founded an organization where the work continues to inspire me... and piss me off.
THE WEIGHT OF A ROOM
This summer, I was both thrilled and deeply honored when Moms First founder Reshma Saujani invited me to a salon discussion at Gloria’s Upper East Side home around No Country for Mothers, the new documentary about Motherhood in America.
The trip was already full of remarkable women: Liuba Grechen Shirley of Vote Mama; my dear friend Paige Davis of Trading Spaces; Motherhood Advantage guest and The Ambition Penalty author Stefanie O’Connell; my Kappa Delta Big Sis Shiloh Martin; and Kimberly Dawn Neumann—once my dance colleague, now a journalism mentor.
With Liuba Grechen Shirley, Shiloh Martin, Paige Davis, Stefanie O’Connell, Kimberly Dawn Neumann and Marci Reid. Photos courtesy of my cell phone.
But the moment I climbed the stairs toward Gloria’s living room, the significance of where I was—and the herstory that had unfolded within those walls—landed with an almost physical force. I started to cry before I even entered the room.
Maybe some part of me had anticipated that. I had already written down what I most wanted Gloria to know:
“Thank you for opening your home so generously. You have been a personal hero to me—not only for what you have said, but for all you have carried, challenged, and changed for women across generations. My work on Motherhood and leadership stands on ground you helped make possible.”
And I am profoundly grateful that I got to give her the card and that message while she was alive. Especially the part about what she carried.
As I read the tributes now, I keep thinking about the hostility, ridicule, anger and resistance Gloria absorbed while challenging a world that did not particularly want to change. She shouldered that weight so women who followed could live in a better world than the one she encountered.
MAKING ROOM FOR WOMEN
Gloria was many things, but as a journalist myself, I keep returning to how she reshaped our collective narrative. As a founding editor of New York magazine, and co-founder Ms. magazine and the National Women’s Political Caucus, she did not simply argue that women deserved seats in existing rooms. She helped create the opportunities and space for them to lead.
That made sitting in her own living room, surrounded by Mothers talking candidly about the systems shaping their lives, feel especially fitting.
The conversation was hopeful and heartbreaking, thoughtful and maddening—reminding us how much has changed and how far we have to go.
And I took the opportunity to thank Reshma for something that may sound simple but is actually remarkable: she called her organization Moms First.
In a world where Mothers are routinely overlooked and undervalued, there is something almost radical about putting Moms first—literally and figuratively.
THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS
As our discussion came to a close, we gathered around Gloria’s red chair for a group photograph. I ended up seated on the floor near her feet.
The culmination of a profound afternoon in Gloria Steinem's salon. Photo by MaxwellPicswell.
My mind was still racing when I asked her:
After all the very real progress you and your colleagues have created and inspired, how are we still having so many of the same conversations today?
Gloria—still incredibly sharp—put the moment in perspective: what women had fought for, what had once seemed impossible, what had changed, and how much remained to be done.
I haven’t stopped thinking about that question. There is a clear progression in this work.
In The Price of Motherhood, former New York Times economics reporter Ann Crittenden argued that equality would remain incomplete as long as Mothers’ caregiving work remained economically unrecognized and undervalued.
Anne-Marie Slaughter expanded that argument in Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family: “we are never going to get to gender equality … unless we value the work of care as much as we value paid work.”
We have spent decades documenting what Motherhood costs women—and those costs are real. My research asks us to take one more step:
What becomes possible when we value the strengths, skills, and experience Mothers bring to the paid workplace?
Nearly 1,000 Mothers participated in the original research exploring the relationship between Motherhood and leadership. They repeatedly described how caregiving develops the leadership capacities that employers prize: strategic thinking, negotiation, advocacy, crisis management, adaptability, communication and emotional regulation.
The leadership was never missing. The recognition was.
That is the work I am continuing through Intuitionship, this column, and the Motherhood Advantage podcast: asking what becomes possible when we recognize caregiving as a legitimate place where leadership expertise is developed.
SHARE THE LIGHT
There is one Gloria quote I keep returning to.
When people asked when and where she would pass the torch, Gloria rejected the premise:
“I’m keeping my torch, thank you very much. And I’m using it to light other torches, because everybody needs a torch.”
That feels like exactly the right image now.
Gloria’s legacy was never about one woman carrying a torch. It was about creating enough light for other people to find—and nurture—their own.
I think of Reshma Saujani putting Moms First. Liuba Grechen Shirley creating pathways for Mothers into political power. Stefanie O’Connell exposing the systems that punish women’s ambition. Anne-Marie Slaughter asking us to value care. Ann Crittenden demanding recognition for Mothers’ work. And the women of Feminist Friday gathering around tables, encouraging one another to act.
My own work is another small part of that illumination: shining a light on Mothers’ expertise, leadership and work that has too often been hiding in plain sight.
With Reshma Saujani, center, and new friends from the salon discussion.
It is extraordinary to consider how much Gloria carried, challenged, and changed.
I feel incredibly fortunate to have spent one afternoon in her living room, in community with extraordinary women imagining what might still be possible.
Gloria did not ask us to carry her torch. She showed us how to kindle our own—and how to use that light to illuminate what the world has too often failed to see.
If you are moved to honor Gloria Steinem, donations may be made to Gloria’s Foundation. Preserving her home matters because it is so much more than a building: it protects a place where generations of organizers gathered, ideas became action, and women created new rooms for one another. The Foundation plans to keep that tradition of feminist conversation moving forward.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Laura Marie Rivera is a researcher, writer, Mother of four, and founder of Intuitionship, a nonprofit emerging from her doctoral work at Seattle University. Her research explores Motherhood as a form of leadership development, exploring how caregiving develops many of the competencies organizations value most—from strategic thinking and crisis management to negotiation and advocacy.
