09/03/2026
Feminist icon Gloria Steinem, a major voice in the U.S. women’s movement for more than six decades, has died. She was 92.
“Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end,” read a post on her social media pages announcing her death. “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.”
Steinem began her career as a journalist, once going undercover as a Pl***oy Bunny for a magazine exposé. In 1969, she covered a “speak out” where women talked about getting illegal abortions, which she later called a turning point in her life. Two years later, she, along with Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm and Bella Abzug, founded the National Women’s Political Caucus.
In the early 1970s, she cofounded Ms. Magazine, a publication that, unlike other women’s magazines that offered tips on beauty and attracting men, spoke to women’s inner lives and included articles on topics such as maternity leave and sisterhood.
During her life and career, she spoke out about evolving aspects of the women’s movement. In 2020, as the world endured some of the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she told Judy Woodruff that she hoped “we are going into a world without adjectives. … I think we are perhaps learning from the coronavirus that sees humans as humans. The coronavirus does not see gender or race or class or nationality, and that is the direction we need to go in.”
When asked if that meant she had optimism, she said, “Hope is a form of planning. So, that should not be taken away from us.”
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