Gloria Steinem, journalist and feminist activist, has died aged 92

Feminist icon Gloria Steinem, one of the most potent voices of the 60s and 70s US women’s movement, has died aged 92.

Ms Steinem died at her New York home on Wednesday, “surrounded by some of the many who loved her”, a statement on her Instagram page said.

It added: “Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end.

Gloria Steinem died at her New York home on Wednesday “surrounded by some of the many who loved her”. / Credit: AP

“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.”

For much of her life, she was an advocate who spent time on the road, speaking at college campuses and community centres, and at rallies and marches.

She began her career as a journalist, notably one who reported, in 1963, on degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner’s Playboy empire, an undercover assignment she came to later regret. She credits a meeting six years later, where women spoke out boldly in favour of abortion rights, with changing her career path.

“That speak-out was the beginning of activism for me,” Steinem, who had undergone a secret illegal abortion herself at age 22, told the AP in an email 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.”

Though she soon became a known activist, those who watched Steinem denounce discrimination for so many years likely never suspected that she’d had to overcome a deep fear of public speaking. She would have simply stuck to writing, she said, if only editors at the time had been willing to let her write about the women’s movement.

But they weren’t interested, she told the AP in 2015. “So I ended up going out and speaking, which was my nightmare,” she said. “I mean, I was terrified. But I’m grateful, even though I still get scared even now.”

In 2013, Steinem was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. “Because of her work across America and around the world, more women are afforded the respect and opportunities that they deserve,” he said, “but she also changed how women thought about themselves.”