Gloria Steinem, U.S. women’s rights advocate, dies at 92

Gloria Steinem, the author and activist who became the most recognizable symbol of the U.S. women’s movement, has died at 92. She remained an outspoken advocate for equality for six decades.

Known for her streaked hair, center part and large aviator glasses, Steinem was a co-founder of Ms. Magazine and a familiar presence at college campuses, community centers, rallies and marches. “You can’t do it on the phone or on the web,” she told The Associated Press in 2015. “You have to be there with all five senses. It should be obvious that people can’t empathize with each other unless we’re in the same room.”

Steinem died Wednesday at her home in New York City after her health had declined, according to a post on her social media page. She had recently finished a memoir scheduled for publication in the fall.

“

You can’t do it on the phone or on the web. You have to be there with all five senses. It should be obvious that people can’t empathize with each other unless we’re in the same room.

Her friend and fellow activist Abigail Disney said Steinem remained witty and sharp when Disney visited her Manhattan home more than a week earlier. Steinem began her career as a journalist, including an undercover 1963 report on degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner’s Playboy empire, an assignment she later regretted.

A meeting six years later, where women spoke in favor of abortion rights, changed the direction of her career. Steinem said she had feared public speaking and would have stayed with writing if editors had allowed her to cover the women’s movement. “So I ended up going out and speaking, which was my nightmare,” she told the AP. “I mean, I was terrified. But I’m grateful, even though I still get scared even now.”

“

So I ended up going out and speaking, which was my nightmare. I mean, I was terrified. But I’m grateful, even though I still get scared even now.