Gloria Steinem Dead At 92: Tributes Paid To Feminist Icon
Newsweek · C · trust 61/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. The feminist icon Gloria Steinem has died "peacefully" at the age of 92.
Steinem died at her home in New York City on Wednesday "surrounded by some of the many who loved her," according to a post shared on her and her foundation's Instagram page. No cause of death was given.
"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. Gloria lived true to her independent spirit, always with curiosity and a great sense of humor."
Steinem spent recent years "doing the two things she loved most: being in community with others and writing," the post said.
It added: "Gloria loved the tradition of lighting signal fires on hills to light the way to the other side of the mountain. Lighting your own candle for Gloria makes you part of this global and celestial community circle. In lieu of flowers, Gloria has asked that those wishing to honor her with a gift, may make a donation to Gloria’s Foundation."
Steinem was a celebrated author and activist who became one of the most visible symbols of the U.S. women’s movement and a fierce advocate for feminist causes throughout her life.
A co-founder of Ms. Magazine, she spent much of her life as an advocate on the road, speaking at college campuses, community centers, rallies and marches.
She began her career as a journalist, and found notoriety for an exposé in 1963 on degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner's Playboy empire after going undercover as a Playboy bunny. She later spoke of her regret about the assignment.
"Be warned that if you're a woman journalist and you choose an underground job that's related to sex or looks, you may find it hard to shake the very thing you were exposing," she said in a 2011 interview.
She credits a meeting she attended six years later, where women spoke out boldly in favor of abortion rights, with changing her career path from journalism to activism.
"That speak-out was the beginning of activism for me," Steinem told The Associated Press in 2022 as she reflected on the Supreme Court's 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade. Steinem had undergone a secret illegal abortion herself at the age of 22.
"Either our control over our own bodies is equal, regardless of sex or race, or we’re not living in a democracy," she said.
Steinem was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 2013 by former president Barack Obama.
During the ceremony, Obama credited Steinem with prompting "lasting political and social change in America and abroad."
"As a writer, a speaker, an activist, she awakened a vast and often skeptical public to problems like domestic violence, the lack of affordable child care, unfair hiring practices," he said. "And because of her work, across America and around the world, more women are afforded the respect and opportunities that they deserve."
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