Gloria Steinem, a defining voice of second-wave feminism and co-founder of Ms. magazine, died on September 2 at her home in New York City. She was 92.<\/p>\n
While Steinem is widely recognized for her 1963 undercover assignment as a Playboy Bunny to expose workplace misogyny, she later identified 1969 as the true start of her active feminist journey. At the time, she was reporting for New York magazine when she attended an abortion speak-out in a church basement. The courage of the women sharing their stories, including Steinem’s own, profoundly impacted her activism.<\/p>\n
Steinem co-founded the National Women\u2019s Political Caucus in 1971 and helped launch Ms. magazine the same year. She was a fierce advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment and women’s rights throughout her life. In 2013, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.<\/p>\n
Her activism was deeply personal. Born in Toledo, Ohio, on March 25, 1934, Steinem became the primary caretaker for her mother, Ruth, who struggled with mental illness, at the age of 10. Witnessing the societal disregard shown to her mother shaped Steinem\u2019s commitment to social justice. She attended Smith College, where she studied government, but rejected the era’s conventional expectations for women, later telling People magazine she did not want to “end up taking care of someone else” after having been a parent to her own mother.<\/p>\n
Steinem was known for her ability to unite diverse groups. She often credited Black women with inventing the feminist movement, noting that white, middle-class narratives dominated the historical record. Her home in New York was a frequent gathering place for her famous “talking circles,” where women from various backgrounds connected over shared experiences.<\/p>\n
Friends remembered her generosity and willingness to act. Novelist J. Courtney Sullivan, who met Steinem at a 2009 reception, recalled how the activist responded to Sullivan’s 2018 plea for housing for immigrant families separated at the border. While most offers went unfulfilled, Steinem volunteered her home, telling Sullivan that any mother and child were welcome to stay as long as they needed.<\/p>\n
From her early days as a journalist to her status as a global icon, Steinem used her platform to challenge stereotypes and push for radical societal change, leaving a lasting legacy as a convener of women and a champion of equality.<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/cdn.jwplayer.com\/manifests\/V4EMzHWQ.m3u8<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gloria Steinem, co-founder of Ms. magazine and a pivotal figure in second-wave feminism, has died at her New York home at age 92.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[222,27,78,223,226,234],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-feminism","tag-gloria-steinem","tag-magazine","tag-ms-magazine","tag-obituary","tag-womens-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions\/98"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}