Gloria Steinem, Legendary Feminist Icon and Co-Founder of Ms. Magazine, Dies at 92

Gloria Steinem, the celebrated author and activist who became one of the most visible and powerful voices of the American women's movement for more than six decades, has died. She was 92.

NEW YORK – Gloria Steinem, the iconic feminist leader whose name became synonymous with the fight for women's equality, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at her home in New York City, surrounded by loved ones . The news was confirmed via a statement on her official social media pages and foundation .

With her trademark center-parted, streaked-blond hair and large aviator glasses, Steinem was a recognizable presence wherever she went . She spent much of her life on the road, speaking at college campuses, community centers, rallies, and marches, championing causes from reproductive rights to equal pay .

"Gloria's near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end," her foundation wrote in the statement . "Her words, actions, and example gave people permission to be their truest selves" .

From Journalist to Activist

Born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, Steinem had a peripatetic childhood, traveling with her parents in a house trailer before her parents divorced when she was a teenager . She cared for her mentally ill mother in her youth and later graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College in 1956 .

After a two-year research scholarship in India, she moved to New York City in the 1960s to pursue a career in journalism . She was often dismissed and sexualized by male editors . However, her breakthrough came in 1963 with "A Bunny's Tale," a scathing two-part exposé published in Show magazine for which she went undercover as a Playboy Bunny at Hugh Hefner's New York Playboy Club . The article detailed the degrading conditions, low pay, and pressure to perform sexual favors, effectively launching her writing career even as it typecast her .

Steinem's political awakening came in 1969 when she attended an "abortion speak-out" in New York, where women shared their stories of illegal abortions . Having undergone a secret, illegal abortion in London at age 22, Steinem felt a profound connection. "That speak-out was the beginning of activism for me," she later said . "There was something about seeing women tell the truth about their lives in public" .

Founding Ms. Magazine and a Movement

In 1971, Steinem co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus . The following year, she partnered with Dorothy Pitman Hughes to co-found Ms. Magazine, thought to be the first national American feminist magazine . The inaugural issue, released in 1972, featured a cover image of a woman with eight arms juggling various domestic tasks .

" I realized as a journalist that there really was nothing for women to read that was controlled by women," she later explained . The magazine ran articles by prominent writers like Angela Davis, Alice Walker, and Barbara Ehrenreich, and tackled issues from domestic violence to reproductive rights, in stark contrast to traditional women's magazines .

In 1970, she testified before the Senate in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment .

A Life of Advocacy and Legacy

Throughout her life, Steinem advocated for reproductive freedom, same-sex marriage, equal rights, and an end to female genital mutilation . She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 by President Barack Obama .

Steinem lived to see the passage of Roe v. Wade and its eventual reversal in 2022, a setback she called a blow to democracy . Despite a powerful backlash against her vision of feminism, with policies encouraging traditional gender roles and opposing the career-first culture, she continued her fight .

In a 2015 interview, she emphasized the need for in-person connection in activism: “You can’t do it on the phone or on the web... You have to be there with all five senses” .

Even in her final years, she remained an optimist, hosting "Talking Circles" in her New York brownstone, a home she dedicated in perpetuity as a center for social justice movements . She had recently completed a memoir, An Unexpected Life, set to be released this fall .

Tributes Pour In

Tributes flooded social media from leaders and celebrities.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Steinem "one of the architects of the entire structure of women's equality" . Oprah Winfrey said: "Every woman who has ever walked into a room knowing she belongs there... is living, in some measure, inside the progress Gloria helped create" .

Actress Julianne Moore, who portrayed Steinem in the 2020 film The Glorias, wrote: "Everything I watched, everything I read... gave me a template for how I wanted to behave" . Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, remembered her as a mentor and friend who "loved our children with her whole heart" .

"Gloria was at heart an optimist," Hillary Clinton said . "Her activism was rooted in optimism, and that's a moral choice she made every day."