Gloria Steinem, Feminist Icon and Journalist, Dies at 92
Gloria Steinem, the feminist activist and journalist, died on Wednesday at the age of 92, according to her foundation. Her organization announced in an Instagram post on Thursday that she passed away peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by many who loved her.
Her decades-long career reshaped the American political and cultural landscape, leaving behind a legacy that continues to impact advocacy, publishing, and civil rights infrastructure worldwide.
Early Life and Formative Years in Ohio
Born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, Steinem spent much of her early childhood traveling across the country. Her father, Leo, worked as a traveling antiques salesman, taking Steinem, her mother Ruth, and her older sister Susanne along for the journey. Steinem did not attend school regularly until she reached the age of 11, following her parents’ divorce, which prompted her return to Ohio with her mother.
Ruth Steinem had mental health problems, something Steinem has said deeply influenced her. Witnessing doctors routinely dismiss her mother’s medical and emotional needs fueled a lifelong drive to secure a stronger voice for women in society. Furthermore, the burden of caring for her mother at a young age influenced her personal decisions regarding family. I didn’t want to end up taking care of someone else.”
In 1956, Steinem graduated from Smith College, an all-women’s liberal arts institution in Massachusetts, earning a degree in government—an uncommon academic major for women during that era. Following graduation, she spent two years in India on a fellowship before moving to New York City to pursue a career in journalism.
Breaking Barriers in Journalism and Founding Ms. Magazine
Entering the media industry in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Steinem initially struggled to be taken seriously as a female reporter. Writing in diary form under a fake identity, Steinem detailed the grueling reality behind the cheerful persona demanded of the clubs’ female employees, whose tips were heavily docked and whose mandatory high heels caused permanent physical strain.
Her footprint in publishing expanded rapidly over the subsequent decade. In 1968, she became a founding editor and political columnist for New York magazine. Her 1969 article, “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation,” cemented her status as a leading voice in the burgeoning equality movement.
Alongside other prominent leaders, Steinem co-founded Ms. magazine in 1971. Initially launched as an insert within New York magazine before spinning off into an independent publication the following year, Ms. broke journalistic taboos. In 1976, it made history as the first national publication to place domestic violence on its cover.
Over 50 years ago, Steinem also co-founded the Women’s Action Alliance, an organization dedicated to fighting systemic sexism and providing structural support for grassroots gender equity campaigns, according to the BBC.
Advocacy for Reproductive Rights and Lifelong Activism
Steinem’s commitment to reproductive freedom stemmed from a deeply personal experience while she was living in London at age 22, shortly after graduating from college. She discovered she was carrying an unwanted pregnancy at a time when abortion was strictly illegal. In a 2021 interview with NPR, she recalled searching for options, stating she had “all the usual fantasies — maybe if I go horseback riding, maybe if I throw myself down the stairs.” By sheer luck, she found a physician who directed her to a doctor secretly performing the procedure. Decades later, she dedicated her 2015 memoir, My Life on the Road, to the physician who facilitated that connection.
Although the experience guided her lifelong political advocacy, Steinem did not publicly disclose her personal abortion until 1969. In later years, she frequently critiqued the framing of reproductive debates. In a 2019 interview with Al Jazeera, she expressed frustration with the terms “pro-choice” and “pro-life,” arguing that nobody is genuinely “pro” abortion because “nobody would choose one if they didn’t have to.”
Throughout her career, Steinem faced scrutiny and controversy, occasionally drawing criticism even from within her own movement. Some detractors argued she was “too pretty” for her message or objected to her occasional use of miniskirts in television interviews during the 1970s. She continued writing and organizing well into her later decades, publishing Revolution From Within: A Book of Self-Esteem in 1992 and remaining a visible global symbol of resistance against oppression.