Readers respond: Growing up with Gloria Steinem's message

When Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, I was in grade school. Too young to understand the details, but old enough to feel the magnitude. As the oldest of six girls, I remember reading Ms. Magazine, which Gloria Steinem co-founded the year I went into high school. Her articles helped light an ember, one I'd nurture and tend to quietly in my conservative household. I had questions I knew not to ask — about what I wanted to be growing up. I did not want Mom's life; I wanted Dad's. My perception of his freedom: Gone all day. Waited on at night. Golfing on weekends in the summer. Hunting with friends several times a year. But it was the freedom to choose, versus 'let's wait and see what your father has to say' that I wanted. That sense of freedom lured me into math after he repeatedly said, 'Math, it's the only grade that counts.' No wonder one of the subconscious reasons I went into computer science was because of that undercurrent of finding something that 'counts.' MORE BY LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Readers respond: 'Big, beautiful bill' must be repealedSep. 6, 2026, 6:30 a.m. Readers respond: I-5 closure cheaper for whom?Sep. 6, 2026, 6:00 a.m. On a ride to my college dorm at University of Wisconsin-Madison, I asked my father to explain the Wall Street Journal stock pages to me. After a pause, he patted my knee and said, 'It's my job to make the money, little girl; it's your job to spend it.' At that moment, I knew I'd be a working parent with my computer science degree, not realizing I had an undercurrent of Gloria Steinem's voice telling me I could. Beth Bonness, Portland