Gloria Steinem, the American journalist and feminist trailblazer who fought for greater rights for women around the world, has died at age 92.
Gloria Steinem, the American journalist and feminist trailblazer, has died at age 92.
Her death was announced by her organization, Gloria’s Foundation, on Instagram: “Yesterday, Gloria Steinem passed away peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her. Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end.
“Gloria’s greatest gift was her ability to listen to others, to make others feel seen and heard. Her words, actions, and example gave people permission to be their truest selves. Gloria lived true to her independent spirit, always with curiosity and a great sense of humor.”
A Brief Biography of Gloria Steinem
Born in 1934, Steinem grew up in a trailer home in Toledo, Ohio. During her childhood, she first began noticing society’s hostility toward her mother, a working class woman struggling with mental illness. Following her graduation from Smith College in 1956 with a bachelor’s degree in government studies, Steinem spent two years in India on a research scholarship. There, she held diverse roles, including organizing non-violent protests against caste violence and government policies. These experiences would then shape her activism in the coming years.
Some of her first battles took place in the newsrooms of New York City, where she worked as a freelance journalist in the 1960s. “I and lots of women could not write about political subjects for the existing magazines,” Steinem told NPR in 2020. “We were thought to be the experts on, you know, food, makeup, babies, and celebrities.”
She quickly challenged this, and in 1963, she made national headlines with her exposé of the working conditions at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Club. Going undercover as a Playboy Bunny for 11 days, she revealed the sexism, long hours wearing uncomfortable outfits, and low wages the cocktail waitresses endured.
Steinem then went on to become a columnist for New York Magazine, where she coined the term “reproductive freedom” in a piece about an abortion protest before Roe V. Wade. Having had an abortion at age 22, Steinem reported feeling a “big click” that day, turning her into an “active feminist” ever since. She also founded Ms. magazine, the first national American feminist magazine, in 1971.
In 2013, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S. “Because of her work, across America and around the world, more women are afforded the respect and opportunities that they deserve,” said President Barack Obama at the ceremony. “But she also changed how women thought about themselves. And Gloria continues to pour her heart into teaching and mentoring. Her one piece of advice to young girls is…‘Do not listen to my advice. Listen to the voice inside you and follow that.’” Two years later, she published her memoir My Life on the Road, which she dedicated to the English doctor who gave her an abortion in the 1960s. Steinem has another memoir set to release later this month, An Unexpected Life, that will reflect on “the progress and setbacks of six decades of activism.”
Tributes to Gloria Steinem
Upon her passing, activists, luminaries, and philanthropists have paid tribute to Steinem.
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Melinda Gates wrote: “Generational change doesn’t happen by accident or fate—it takes leaders like Gloria Steinem who work hand in hand with so many others to build a lasting movement. The decades of energy, brilliance, and advocacy she devoted to women’s rights helped so many of us see that we belonged at the tables where decisions are made. Her dedication helped illuminate a simple truth: When women can stand in their power, they invite everyone else to stand a little taller, too. What a light she was for me and so many others. What a debt we owe her.”
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Hilary Clinton, the first woman to secure a presidential nomination for a major U.S. political party, recalled the first time she heard about Steinem: “All of a sudden this incredibly smart, beautiful, talented woman began talking about how women should have equal opportunity—how we should aim for the stars, be able to pursue our own dreams. Over the decades, she became one of the architects of the entire structure of women’s equality. She pushed open doors not just for herself, but for literally millions of women behind her.” Clinton added that Gloria Steinem was, at heart, an optimist, saying, “Her activism was rooted in optimism, and that’s a moral choice she made every day.”
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Oprah Winfrey shared an image of her laughing alongside Steinem, with the caption: “We as women owe her so much. She challenged a culture that often told us who we could be, what we could do, and how much space we were allowed to take up—and then spent her life making that space wider for all of us. And although she was a defining leader of the women’s movement and became an icon, she never wanted the movement to be about her. She understood that real change happens when one woman finds her voice and then uses it to help another woman find hers.”
Sources: Gloria Steinem, groundbreaking feminist campaigner, dies aged 92; Gloria Steinem, trailblazing journalist and activist, dies at 92; Feminist activist and journalist Gloria Steinem dies, aged 92
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