{"id":878626,"date":"2026-09-03T15:36:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T15:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/878626\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T15:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T15:36:21","slug":"gloria-steinem-death-celebrated-feminist-journalist-and-activist-dies-aged-92","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/878626\/","title":{"rendered":"Gloria Steinem death: Celebrated feminist, journalist and activist, dies, aged 92"},"content":{"rendered":"

American journalist and feminist activist Gloria Steinem<\/a> has died at the age of 92, a post on her official Instagram account announced on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday, Gloria Steinem passed away peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her,\u201d the caption began.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gloria Steinem speaks onstage during Visionary Women in November 2019.\u00a0Getty Images for Visionary Women<\/p>\n

\u201cGloria\u2019s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end.<\/p>\n

\u201cGloria\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe spent her recent years doing the two things she loved 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs Gloria wrote in her forthcoming book, An Unexpected Life, \u2018I have now lived for more than 50 years in this brownstone, in rooms that have witnessed lives before mine, and will know others after I am gone\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Jacinda<\/p>\n

Honorary degree recipient Gloria Steinem (left) applauds fellow honorary degree recipient, then-NZ PM, Jacinda Ardern (right) as she is introduced at Harvard\u2019s 371st Commencement in May 2022.\u00a0AP Photo\/Mary Schwalm<\/p>\n

\u201cThis book, along with her commitment to her home becoming a centre 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cGloria often quoted the adage: \u2018The flap of a butterfly\u2019s wing can change the weather hundreds of miles away\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cGloria 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement requested any fans or followers of Steinem who wish to honour her with a gift make a donation to her charity in lieu of flowers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Over the years, the journalist continued to interview some of the world\u2019s biggest names, including Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.\u00a0Instagram<\/p>\n

Steinem became a feminist icon and publishing force as the co-founder of Ms Magazine in the 1970s and a leading voice in the US women\u2019s movement.<\/p>\n

Her involvement in fight for women\u2019s equal legal rights in the US, with the Equal Rights Amendment, was captured in the drama miniseries Mrs America, where Steinem was played by Australian actress Rose Byrne.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the journalist continued to interview some of the world\u2019s biggest names of women in positions of power and hosted the occasional podcast.<\/p>\n

In more recent years, her interviews have included Jacinda Arden, Julia Gillard and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

in the drama miniseries Mrs America, about the Equal Rights Amendment, Steinem was played by Australian actress Rose Byrne (left).\u00a0FX\/AP<\/p>\n

But Steinem also spent much of her life as an advocate on the road, speaking at college campuses and community centres, at rallies and marches.<\/p>\n

\u2018The beginning of activism for me\u2019<\/p>\n

She began her career as a journalist, notably one who reported, in 1963, on degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner\u2019s Playboy empire, an undercover assignment she came to later regret.<\/p>\n

She credits a meeting six years later, where women spoke out boldly in favour of abortion rights, with changing her career path.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat speak-out was the beginning of activism for me,\u201d Steinem, who had undergone a secret illegal abortion herself at age 22, told the AP in an email in 2022,\u00a0reflecting on the reversal of Roe v Wade.<\/p>\n

\"Gloria<\/p>\n

She began her career as a journalist, notably one who reported, in 1963, on degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner\u2019s Playboy empire (Pictured in 1987).\u00a0Fairfax Media<\/p>\n

\u201cEither our control over our own bodies is equal, regardless of sex or race, or we\u2019re not living in a democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though she soon became a known activist, those who watched Steinem denounce discrimination for so many years likely never suspected that she\u2019d 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\u2019s movement.<\/p>\n

Time hardly slowed Steinem down; well into her 80s she was travelling the globe and speaking out on issues of importance to her. These included everything from genital mutilation to Korean reconciliation, but it was equality for women that took precedence. <\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a feminist means that you see the world as whole instead of half,\u201d she once said. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t need a name, and one day it won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gloria<\/p>\n

Time hardly slowed Steinem down; well into her 80s she was travelling the globe and speaking out on issues of importance to her (Pictured in 2021).\u00a0AP Photo\/Manu Fernandez<\/p>\n

As the years went on, Steinem\u2019s visibility endured. At 83, she sat in the front row of her first fashion show, guest of designer Prabal Gurung. <\/p>\n

A few days after her 85th birthday, she was leading a women\u2019s \u201ctalking circle\u201d at an off-Broadway play celebrating her life, where one by one, women in the audience \u2014 many fighting tears \u2014 rose to thank her and tell their own stories of discrimination. <\/p>\n

In 2020, her life was the subject of a feature film, The Glorias, A Life on The Road, based on her 2015 memoir and starring Julianne Moore.<\/p>\n

And at 91,\u00a0she collaborated on a picture book\u00a0with Liberian peace activist and Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee aimed at inspiring young people to change the world. Rise, Girl, Rise: Our Sister-Friend Journey. Together for All was published in February 2026.<\/p>\n

\u2018My week with Gloria changed me\u2019<\/p>\n

Canadian-Australian author Tara Moss recollected her first meeting with Steinem in a Melbourne hotel before interviewing her on stage in May 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is no small thing to meet one of your heroines,\u201d Moss wrote in a lengthy social media tribute.<\/p>\n

“Minutes later she breezed into the room like the sun, with enough energy for the both of us despite being twice my age and having just stepped off an international flight. She was 82.<\/p>\n

\"Tara<\/p>\n

Tara Moss (left) reflected on her meeting with Gloria Steinem (right) in Australia, back in 2016.\u00a0Facebook\/Tara Moss<\/p>\n

“I was blown away by her energy and presence \u2026 she had a generosity of spirit and a presence about her that radiated warmth and intelligence. I felt charged instantly, and reassured.”<\/p>\n

Moss added that she and Steinem got on so well both on-stage and off, they “spent a lot of that week in each other\u2019s company while she was in Australia”.<\/p>\n

“My week with Gloria changed me. I\u2019ll never forget it,” she said.<\/p>\n

Actress Amy Schumer also praised Steinem\u2019s energy in a social media tribute.<\/p>\n

\u201cWalked the walk to her last day,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove to the coven of women who cared for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Reported with Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"American journalist and feminist activist Gloria Steinem has died at the age of 92, a post on her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-878626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}