Gloria Steinem, the celebrated journalist, author, organiser and feminist advocate, has died at 92. According to a statement from her foundation, Steinem “passed away peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her” on 2 September. A cause of death has not been confirmed.
“Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end,” the announcement, shared on her Instagram, continued. “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 humour.”
The statement also noted how Steinem’s recent years had been focused on community and writing, “the two things she loved most”. She continued to host her talking circles – an ancient practice and core method for grassroots organising and social movements – in her home, “a tradition she insisted will continue long after she is no longer with us”. Her mourners were urged to light candles in one “global and celestial community circle”, and in lieu of sending flowers, to make a donation to Steinem’s foundation.
“I have now lived for more than 50 years in this brownstone, in rooms that have witnessed lives before mine, and will know others after I am gone,” Steinem herself wrote in her forthcoming memoir, , out later this month.
Steinem is credited with igniting and coalescing second-wave feminism, the women’s rights movement that unfolded in the 1960s and 1970s and forever changed how women’s political, social, and economic power were understood and discussed in the Western world. “Change is like a house,” Steinem once said, “you can’t build it from the top down, only from the bottom up. Whatever small change we make will be like a pebble in a pond; it will reverberate outward.”
Gloria Steinem was born on March 25, 1934 in Toledo, Ohio. Her parents divorced when she was still young, leaving Steinem in charge of the care of her mentally troubled mother. After graduating high school, she attended Smith College and studied government. She began her professional life in New York, as a journalist, eventually becoming one of the founding editors of magazine in 1968. In 1971, she co-founded magazine as an insert in before it became its own standalone publication. She remained on staff for the next 15 years, transforming the media landscape with its progressive pro-choice stance and exposing injustices around issues like domestic violence, workplace discrimination and date rape. The publication grew under her leadership, and encompassed a more diverse range of voices, featuring the likes of Maya Angelou, Angela Davis and Alice Walker. Over the years, Steinem wrote for many outlets, and became a best-selling author, publishing a memoir, My Life on the Road, in 2015.
A prominent, pop-culture-defining moment came in 1983, when she went undercover as a Playboy bunny to report an exposé about the poor working conditions for servers in Hugh Hefner’s Playboy clubs. Steinem also wrote for , including a dispatch on Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball in 1967.
Throughout her journalistic career, Steinem was active in politics and activism, and founded the National Women’s Political Caucus with Congresswoman Bella Abzug, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, and feminist Betty Friedan in 1972. Steinem was responsible for establishing Take Our Daughters to Work Day, and co-founded the Women’s Media Center in 2004.
Through all her efforts, Steinem saw herself in a galvanising role. “I’m not giving up my torch,” she once said when asked who would carry on her legacy, “but using it to light the torches of others, because if we each have a torch, there’s a lot more light.”
Whether on the protest lines or the podium, Steinem was a striking figure, with her centre-parted and blonde highlighted blowout, flared blue jeans or suede miniskirts and boots, and signature oversized gradient aviator glasses. “Fashion in the past meant conforming and losing oneself,” she said once. “Fashion in the present means being unique and finding oneself.” Fashion, for Steinem, was and remained a tool for rebellion and self-expression.
Steinem received a breast cancer diagnosis at age 52, which was caught early and treated. She received many accolades across her life, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 from former President Barack Obama, and the Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Her life was also committed several times to screen, including in the FX mini-series.
Her next memoir, , is slated for release 22 September, exploring pivotal moments from childhood to her older age, the trailblazers who inspired her, and the enduring life lessons that made her such a visionary.
Steinem’s outsized legacy lives on in Gloria’s Foundation, a nonprofit organisation that will continue to preserve Steinem’s three-story Upper East Side brownstone home and archives as a hub for feminist organising.