Gloria Steinem, the celebrated journalist, author, organizer, 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 September 2. 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 humor.”
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 organizing 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 fifty 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, An Unexpected Life, 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.”
Steinem in 1966.
Photo: Getty Images
Gloria Steinem was born on March 25, 1934 in Toledo, Ohio. Her parents divorced when she was still young, leaving Steinem to care for 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 New York magazine in 1968. In 1971, she co-founded Ms magazine as an insert in New York before it became its own 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.
