Gloria Steinem dies at 92 as tributes hail legacy

Gloria Steinem, the American journalist, author and activist who became one of the best-known figures of the feminist movement, has died at 92, Gloria's Foundation said Thursday.

The foundation said Steinem died peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by people who loved her. It did not specify a cause of death.

Tributes came from prominent US political and cultural figures. Hillary Clinton, the first woman to serve as US secretary of state and the first female presidential nominee of a major US party, said Steinem “pushed open doors not just for herself, but for literally millions of women behind her”.

Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to be US House speaker, called Steinem “a fearless trailblazer who transformed the fight for equality in America and inspired generations of women to know their power”. Tennis legend Billie Jean King said Steinem had lit a torch and added: “It is now our responsibility to keep it lifted into the future.”

Former president Barack Obama praised Steinem on X as a “larger-than-life” figure who “helped awaken us to problems like domestic violence” and discriminatory hiring practices. He said generations of women were walking taller because of what she fought for and achieved.

Steinem began in journalism in the 1960s and wrote about inequalities faced by women in the United States, including at a time when many women still needed a husband's approval to open a bank account. She became widely known in 1963 with an exposé on sexism faced by cocktail waitresses at New York's Playboy Club.

She later said a 1969 meeting where women spoke about having abortions helped shape her activism. Steinem said she had also had an abortion and had not told anyone. After the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, she wrote that banning abortions did not stop the need for them and urged women: “Don't agonize. Organize.”

In the 1970s, Steinem founded Ms. Magazine and the National Women's Political Caucus and helped organise the first National Women's Conference in Houston. She spent decades travelling in the United States and abroad for conferences and protests and remained active in women's rights into old age.

Born in Ohio on March 25, 1934, Steinem grew up partly in the nomadic life of her travelling salesman father. Her parents divorced when she was 10, and she cared for her mother, who had mental health issues.

As a prominent feminist, Steinem faced public scrutiny over her appearance, clothing, past work as a Playboy Bunny and personal life. At 66, she married businessman David Bale, the father of actor Christian Bale. Bale died three years later of brain cancer. Steinem underwent surgery for breast cancer in the 1980s.

Some younger activists later viewed her feminism as outdated. She was criticised for defending Bill Clinton in 1989 when he was accused of sexual harassment, and she apologised in 2016 after suggesting young women supported Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton because young men liked him.

Steinem received numerous awards and honours, including the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. Supporters also stopped outside her Manhattan apartment to pay respects.