American journalist and giant of the feminist movement Gloria Steinem died on Wednesday aged 92 and is being remembered for her trailblazing activism that shaped the path for the expansion of women’s rights across decades.
Steinem was a leading second-wave feminist figure in the late 1960s and 70s, and an acclaimed journalist who worked to uncover untold stories affecting women.
According to a statement shared on her Instagram page, Steinem passed away peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her.”
“Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end,” the post said.
“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.”
The news of her death has been met with tributes from leaders across the globe, including former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who said: “Gloria Steinem pushed open doors not just for herself, but for literally millions of women behind her.”
“She wasn’t going to be an astronaut, but my goodness, she made it possible for Sally Ride to be an astronaut. She wasn’t going to play college sports, but she stood behind the women in Congress who passed Title IX and opened up opportunities in sports and academics for girls. And she wasn’t on the Supreme Court when Roe v. Wade was decided, but her voice and her activism was behind that advancement for women’s rights,” Clinton said.
“Gloria Steinem was, at heart, an optimist. Her activism was rooted in optimism, and that’s a moral choice she made every day.”
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex also paid tribute to Steinem, writing of the friendship they had formed over the years.
“You all know her many accolades and the way in which she helped shape the world for women and all people – “we are linked, not ranked” she would tell me, and the bracelet she gave me said exactly that. I still wear it with pride,” Meghan wrote.
Steinem’s impact
Steinem was born in 1934 in Toledo, Ohio and lived in a trailer home. Her parents divorced when she was 10, leaving Steinem to care for her mentally ill mother who was in and out of work.
She graduated from a women’s liberal arts college in 1956 and went to live in India for two years where she worked as a legal clerk in India’s supreme court. In 1962, her early career in journalism began to take shape when she published a feature article on contraception in Esquire magazine. Soon after, she went undercover as a Playboy Bunny and wrote an exposé on the treatment of women who worked for Hugh Hefner.
Steinem often used her journalism to advocate for women’s reproductive rights and economic equality.
In 1971, she co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus and a year later, founded Ms. Magazine, a publication that focused on women’s issues and rights.
She also advocated for women’s rights internationally, including fighting to end genital mutilation. She was also an advocate for same sex marriage and fought against racism.
In 2013, then-President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the US. When Roe v Wade was overturned by the US Supreme Court in 2022, she said:“Banning abortions does not stop the need for them. It just bans their safety,” she said. “Don’t agonise. Organise.”
Steinem is the author of nine books, including My Life on the Road and Revolution from Within.
Steinem was arrested in 1984 during an anti-apartheid protest outside the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C. She also campaigned against the Vietnam and Gulf wars.
In a post to Instagram, her foundation said she had spent her more recent years doing two things she loved the most: being in community with others and writing.
“She has welcomed hundreds of guests into her living room for Talking Circles, a tradition she insisted will continue long after she is no longer with us,” the foundation said.
“As Gloria wrote in her forthcoming book, An Unexpected Life, “I have now lived for more than fifty years in this brownstone, in rooms that have witnessed lives before mine, and will know others after I am gone.”
“This book, along with her commitment to her home becoming a center for social justice movements, are among the many gifts Gloria has given the world with the hope they have ripple effects for generations to come. Gloria often quoted the adage: “The flap of a butterfly’s wing can change the weather hundreds of miles away.”
Steinem was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1988 and later with trigeminal neuralgia, a chronic pain condition.
Although she had long dismissed the concept of marriage, she married David Bale in 2000, the father of actor Christian Bale. David died just three years later from brain lymphoma.
Some of Steinem’s most-loved quotes include: “A liberated woman is one who has sex before marriage and a job after”, “Empathy is the most radical of human emotions”, “A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men,” and “The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off”.
Vale Gloria Steinem.