Tejal Somvanshi
Gloria Steinem died on September 2, 2026, in New York City at age 92. The Gloria Steinem Foundation announced that she died peacefully at home. No cause of death was disclosed.
She was consistently at the center of movements that pushed women’s rights from the margins of public conversation into legislation, journalism, and political organizing. She did not accomplish this alone, but few figures in the modern American women’s movement were as publicly visible across as many decades.
Steinem was among the founders of Ms., whose preview issue appeared in 1971 and first standalone issue in January 1972. Ms. became the first national magazine in the United States to be run and controlled entirely by women. The magazine published journalism on reproductive rights, workplace discrimination, domestic violence, and equal pay—topics treated as private or peripheral by mainstream media. Ms. gave those topics national prominence and a feminist editorial voice.
In 1971, Steinem co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus alongside Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Fannie Lou Hamer, and others. The organization’s specific purpose was training and supporting women candidates to run for public office. The caucus was an explicit attempt to change through political power the composition of elected offices women held.
One of her lesser-known early experiences shaped her approach. In the late 1950s, as a fellow of the Chester Bowles fellowship, Steinem spent time in India, where she was influenced by Gandhian grassroots organizing methods. That experience—working at the community level with people building coalitions for social change—influenced her methodology throughout her career. She remained committed to grassroots coalition-building rather than top-down mandate.
Her influence on specific legislation was substantial. She was a prominent advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment, the constitutional amendment that would have guaranteed gender equality under law. Though the ERA ultimately failed to achieve ratification, Steinem’s activism elevated its profile and legitimacy. She was also a prominent advocate for the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, which prohibited discrimination in credit based on sex or marital status.
Her coalition work extended beyond white feminist spaces. She organized alongside Dorothy Pitman Hughes and Flo Kennedy, bringing intersectional perspectives to feminist activism.
In 2013, President Barack Obama awarded Steinem the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
On August 27, Ms. republished a 1987 piece by Steinem as part of its coverage. The Gloria Steinem Foundation, which she established, has preserved her archives and maintains her home as a site for feminist organizing and the “Talking Circles” she pioneered—intimate gatherings where people discuss their experiences and build solidarity. Since 2022, the foundation has hosted more than 50 of these circles.
