Gloria Steinem, a renowned activist, journalist and leader of the second-wave feminist movement, has died. She was 92.
“Yesterday, Gloria Steinem passed away peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her. Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end,” a statement posted to her Instagram account read. It added that she had died on Tuesday.
“Gloria’s greatest gift was her ability to listen to others, to make others feel seen and heard. Her 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.”
Steinem was a key figure in the women’s rights movement in the United States for decades, and dedicated her life to varies causes, including reproductive freedom, domestic violence prevention, workplace gender inequalities and same-sex marriage.
Born in Ohio in 1934, Steinem launched her career as a freelance journalist in New York City in the 1950s where she fought to write serious stories about politics and women’s right. Her big break came in 1963 when she reported on degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner’s 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.
She co-found Ms. Magazine and became a founding editor of New York magazine in 1968.
In 1969, she spoke for the first time an event to legalize abortion, sharing her own story about terminating a pregnancy in London when she was 22, at a time when the procedure was illegal.
“I just knew that if I went home and married, which I would’ve had to do, it would be to the wrong person; it would be to a life that wasn’t mine, that wasn’t mine at all,” Steinem said of the decision in a 2015 interview with NPR’s “Fresh Air.” Steinem soon emerged as a prominent spokeswoman for the growing movement, speaking at many protests and demonstrations.
This story is developing.
Today activist Gloria Steinem celebrated her 90th birthday here in NYC. NBC New York’s Tracie Strahan reports.