Gloria Steinem dies at 92

Gloria Steinem, one of the best-known advocates for women’s rights in the United States, has died at 92. She died at her New York home on Wednesday, September 2, surrounded by loved ones.

The news appeared in a post on her official Instagram account and on Gloria’s Foundation. The post said Steinem had continued fighting for equality until the end of her life.

Steinem first drew wide attention as a journalist in the early 1960s. In 1963, she went undercover as a Playboy Bunny at the Playboy Club and wrote about the working conditions of women within Hugh Hefner’s Playboy organization. Her article, “I Was a Playboy Bunny,” generated broad attention and controversy and later became one of her most influential pieces.

She became increasingly prominent in the US equality movement, writing about sex, contraception, abortion and women’s rights at work. In 1972, she helped found Ms., described as the first feminist magazine of its kind in the United States, and served as its editor for 15 years. The magazine became an important platform for debate on women’s rights and equality.

Steinem also helped establish the Women’s Action Alliance, the National Women’s Political Caucus and the Women’s Media Center. She supported LGBTQ rights and racial equality, emphasizing links between discrimination based on gender and race. Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. Her life later appeared in film and television, including the series Mrs. America and the 2020 film The Glorias. She continued writing and activism into her later years, and in 2020 worked with Meghan Markle on a campaign encouraging Americans to vote.