In one of the most politically charged passages of her speech, Steinem made a pragmatic argument for equality that went beyond moral reasoning. She pointed out that societies built on inequality inevitably generate the instability and upheaval that those in power most fear — making equality not just a moral ideal but a practical necessity for stable governance. The second sentence — 'The means are the ends' — encapsulated one of the core principles of Steinem's activism. She had long argued that you cannot achieve a just society through unjust methods, that the process of change must embody the values it seeks to create. This Gandhian principle applied directly to the feminist movement: the way you organize, the way you treat allies and opponents, the way you build power — all of these are as important as the goals you pursue.