Gloria Steinem, the celebrated author and activist who became one of the most visible symbols and potent voices of the U.S. women\u2019s movement and a fierce advocate for feminist causes throughout her life, has died. She was 92.<\/p>\n
With her trademark streaked hair parted down the middle and large aviator glasses, Steinem, a co-founder of Ms. Magazine, was a hugely recognizable presence wherever she went. And she went everywhere: Much of her life as an advocate was spent on the road, speaking at college campuses and community centers, at rallies and marches.<\/p>\n
She died Wednesday at her home in New York City, according to her and her foundation\u2019s social media pages.<\/p>\n
\u201cGloria\u2019s greatest gift was her ability to listen to others, to make others feel seen and heard,\u201d the posts said. \u201cHer 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steinem enjoyed writing and spending time in the community in recent years, the posts said. She also hosted talking circles for hundreds of people in her home.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t do it on the phone or on the web,\u201d she told The Associated Press in a 2015 interview. \u201cYou have to be there with all five senses. It should be obvious that people can\u2019t empathize with each other unless we\u2019re in the same room.\u201d<\/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. She credits a meeting six years later, where women spoke out boldly in favor 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, reflecting on the reversal of Roe v Wade. \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
But they weren\u2019t interested, she told the AP in 2015. \u201cSo I ended up going out and speaking, which was my nightmare,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, I was terrified. But I\u2019m grateful, even though I still get scared even now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Time hardly slowed Steinem down; well into her 80s she was traveling 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. \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
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. 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. In 2020, her life was the subject of a feature film, \u201cThe Glorias, A Life on The Road,\u201d based on her 2015 memoir and starring Julianne Moore.<\/p>\n
And at 91, she collaborated on a picture book with Liberian peace activist and Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee aimed at inspiring young people to change the world. \u201cRise, Girl, Rise: Our Sister-Friend Journey. Together for All\u201d was published in February 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gloria Steinem, the celebrated author and activist who became one of the most visible symbols and potent voices…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[105,117,25,118,128,9,24,12,63,129,131,130,27],"class_list":["post-337049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-all-markets-rank-everywhere","tag-app-for-your-consideration","tag-app-top-stories","tag-associated-press","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}