Gloria Steinem, Feminist Icon and Ms. Co-Founder, Dies at 92

Gloria Steinem, the celebrated author and activist who became one of the most visible symbols and potent voices of the American women’s movement, has died at age 92. Steinem passed away Wednesday at her home in New York City, “surrounded by some of the many who loved her,” according to a statement posted on her Instagram page by her foundation.

With her trademark streaked hair parted down the middle and large aviator glasses, Steinem was a hugely recognizable presence for more than six decades of activism, journalism, and political engagement. She co-founded Ms. Magazine in 1972 — the first major publication to be owned, run, and written by women — and helped launch the National Women’s Political Caucus with Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, and Bella Abzug in 1971.

A Life Forged in Unconventional Beginnings

Born Gloria Marie Steinem on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, she spent her early years on the road with her traveling antiques salesman father. In 1944, her parents divorced, and 10-year-old Gloria was left to care for her mother, a once-promising journalist who suffered from mental illness. That experience, she often said, first moved her to action for women’s rights.

After graduating from Smith College in 1956 with a degree in government, Steinem traveled to India on a fellowship, where she worked as a legal clerk in the country’s supreme court and helped village women organize protests. Returning to New York, she struggled to be taken seriously as a journalist, receiving assignments on food, fashion, and textured stockings rather than politics. As BBC News reported, she was forced to choose between a hotel room with an editor or mailing his letters — “There was no word for sexual harassment then,” she later said. “It was just life.”

Her breakthrough came in 1963, when she went undercover as a Playboy Bunny for an exposé in Show magazine about the degrading working conditions women endured in Hugh Hefner’s empire. The assignment, which she later called “personally and professionally a disaster,” nevertheless established her as a fearless journalist willing to take risks.

Finding Her Voice as a Feminist Leader

In 1969, Steinem attended an abortion rights “speakout” in Greenwich Village — a moment that changed the trajectory of her life. Having undergone a secret illegal abortion at age 22 in London, she was profoundly moved by the women sharing their stories. “That speak-out was the beginning of activism for me,” she told the AP in 2022, reflecting on the reversal of Roe v. Wade. “Either our control over our own bodies is equal, regardless of sex or race, or we’re not living in a democracy.”

Her 1969 New York magazine article “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation” made her name as a feminist leader. She joined the editorial board of New York magazine as a founding editor and political columnist, and in 1971 co-founded Ms. Magazine with Dorothy Pitman Hughes, a Black feminist and child welfare advocate. The magazine’s first issue sold out nationwide in eight days, as The Guardian reported. In 1976, Ms. became the first national publication to spotlight domestic violence on its cover.

Steinem’s activism extended far beyond publishing. She was arrested in 1984 while protesting apartheid outside the South African embassy in Washington. She campaigned against female genital mutilation, the pornography industry, and the Vietnam and Gulf wars. She advocated for LGBTQ rights, racial justice, and the Equal Rights Amendment, testifying before the Senate on its behalf in 1970.

Enduring Visibility and Continued Activism

Time hardly slowed Steinem down. Through her 80s, she traveled the globe speaking on issues ranging from genital mutilation to Korean reconciliation. In 2013, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, as NBC News noted.

On January 21, 2017, the day after Donald Trump’s first inauguration, Steinem delivered the keynote address at the historic Women’s March on Washington. “We are linked,” she told the crowd of hundreds of thousands. “And this is a day that will change us forever because we are together.” In an interview with Democracy Now! at the march, she called the outpouring “an energy and true democracy like I have never seen in my very long life.”

At 91, she collaborated with Liberian peace activist and Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee on the picture book “Rise, Girl, Rise: Our Sister-Friend Journey. Together for All,” published in February 2026. She had recently completed a memoir, “An Unexpected Life,” scheduled for publication this fall.

Tributes from Political Leaders and Cultural Icons

Tributes poured in from across the political and cultural spectrum following the announcement of her death. Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, called Steinem “one of the architects of the entire structure of women’s equality,” telling CBS Mornings that “Gloria was at heart an optimist. Her activism was rooted in optimism, and that’s a moral choice, and she made it every day.” The Guardian reported that Clinton urged younger generations to use Steinem as a role model.

Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, described Steinem as “a fearless trailblazer who transformed the fight for equality in America and inspired generations of women to know their power.” Jill Biden said Steinem’s “voice changed our country, and her courage will continue to inspire us to keep fighting for the freedoms she spent her life defending.”

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, called Steinem her “friend and mentor,” sharing on Instagram that the activist had spent Thanksgiving with her family and loved her children “with her whole heart.” Page Six reported on Markle’s tribute, which recalled Steinem’s response when a woman approached her wanting to introduce her young daughter: “It doesn’t matter if she knows who I am. What matters is that she knows who SHE is.”

Actress Julianne Moore, who played Steinem in the 2020 biopic “The Glorias,” said her research for the role gave her “a template for how I wanted to behave.” Sandra Bullock noted that Steinem “paved the roads that millions of us are able to walk on.” Christiane Amanpour declared that Steinem “will go down in history as one of the most important activists of all time, leading a movement for the equality of half the world: its women.”

A Legacy of Optimism and Action

Steinem married British activist and businessman David Bale in 2000 at age 66 — explaining “I didn’t change. Marriage changed.” Bale died of brain lymphoma in 2003. She never had children, saying she never regretted it: “It’s important that some of us not have children, to show that we have a choice.”

In 2011, she told the Observer: “I hope to live to 100. There is so much to do.” She fell short of that goal, but her foundation’s statement captured the spirit of her remarkable life: “Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end.”

As USA Today reported, Steinem’s Upper East Side brownstone living room was known as a gathering space where influencers, academics, politicians, and thinkers discussed social issues. Her foundation has asked supporters to light a candle in her honor and make donations to Gloria’s Foundation.

Her memoir “An Unexpected Life” is scheduled for publication this fall, offering one final gift from a woman who spent her life reminding others of their own power. As she once said: “The primary thing is not that they know who I am, but that they know who THEY are.”