Feminist activist and journalist Gloria Steinem has died, her foundation announced Thursday.
She was 92.
Steinem “passed away peacefully at her home in New York City” on Wednesday, her foundation said.
“Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end,” it added. “Gloria lived true to her independent spirit, always with curiosity and a great sense of humor.”
Who was Gloria Steinem, feminist trailblazer and journalist?
Steinem became one of the most visible symbols of the US women’s movement, helping lead the country’s second wave of feminism. She was a fierce advocate for feminist causes throughout her life.
She spent much of her life on the road, speaking at college campuses, community centers, rallies and marches.
“She spent her recent years doing the two things she loved most: being in community with others and writing,” her foundation said.
From caretaking daughter to Playboy bunny
Born on March 25, 1935, in Toledo, Ohio, as the younger of two daughters, Steinem did not attend school regularly until around seventh grade due to her father’s work as a traveling antique dealer and the subsequent frequent movement of her family.
Her parents separated when she was 11, pushing her to take care of her mother, who suffered from depression and had a mental breakdown. It was her earliest lesson in social injustice and the constraints she believed marriage placed on women, shaping her belief that the institution robbed women of choices and many of their civil rights.
“I’d already been the very small parent of a very big child, my mother. I didn’t want to end up taking care of someone else,” she was quoted as saying.
She began freelancing as a journalist following her graduation from Smith College.
In 1963, she had a brief stint with Playboy as a bunny. She used her experience to produce her groundbreaking expose “A Bunny’s Tale” for Show magazine, where she shed light on the poor pay and sexist treatment Playboy bunnies endured.
She then helped found New York Magazine in 1968. Her essay “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation” is credited with kickstarting her status as a feminist leader.
For Steinem, her activism work gained momentum a year later, when she attended an abortion speak-out in a New York church. She had to get a then-illegal abortion in London at 22, making the topic of the speak-out very personal.
Steinem’s feminist career and focus on race
In 1971, Steinem co-founded Ms. Magazine, where issues such as abortion, sexism, equal pay and domestic violence were tackled, in sharp contrast to the topics covered by women’s magazines of the time.
She also founded the National Women’s Political Caucus in the same year.
Other groups she created or helped create include the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the Women’s Media Center, Voters for Choice and the Ms. Foundation for Women.
With her signature long, blonde-streaked, center-parted hair and aviator glasses, Steinem became the glamorous symbol of the feminist movement.
She believed the movement should represent women of every race.
“If you’ve suffered discrimination, you’re sensitive to it on every level. I learned feminism largely from Black women. Women of color basically invented feminism,” she told the New Yorker.
In 2013, then-President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian honor.
Steinem never had children and only married at 66 to South African businessman and environmentalist David Bale, the father of actor Christian Bale. He died of brain cancer in 2003.
“I hope this proves what feminists have always said – that feminism is about the ability to choose what’s right at each time of our lives,” she said in a statement about the marriage.
Edited by: Louis Oelofse
