DCNOW Mourns Feminist Icon Gloria Steinem
By: Miriam Edelman
Women’s rights icon Gloria Steinem died in her residence in New York City on September 2, 2026, at age 92. According to The New York Times, she “personified the women’s movement and became its most enduring symbol.” The cause of death was not stated. Steinem’s death was announced on social media.
On September 3rd, Kim Villanueva, the President of the National Organization for Women, issued a statement about the passing of Steinem:
“WASHINGTON—Gloria Steinem was an outspoken, courageous, brilliant, and tenacious feminist warrior whose voice helped transform the women’s rights movement and whose commitment to equality inspired generations.”
“A journalist, writer, organizer, and movement leader, Gloria used her extraordinary platform to challenge the status quo, expose injustice, and bring women’s voices and experiences into the national conversation. She dedicated her life to fighting for women’s rights and expanding the possibilities of women’s lives worldwide.”
“Gloria understood that the personal is political, and the experiences women were told to endure in private were inseparable from the systems of power shaping their lives. In 1968, she bravely wrote about her own abortion, helping bring a deeply personal experience into the public conversation about reproductive freedom. She wrote, ‘I knew it was the first time I had taken responsibility for my own life. I wasn’t going to let things happen to me. I was going to direct my life.’ And that is exactly what she did for the next 60 years.”
“For me, Gloria’s influence was deeply personal. As a writer and activist, I was inspired by her belief that words matter — that journalism could expose injustice, give voice to women’s experiences, challenge those in power, and help move people to action. She showed me that writing is not simply about telling stories; it can be an instrument for change. And she demonstrated, through a lifetime of activism, that finding your voice also means using it.”
“Her influence reached far beyond her own generation. Gloria helped give millions of women the power, courage, and conviction to challenge discrimination and demand equality. She understood, too, that lasting change is built collectively. ‘The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving.’”
“Gloria Steinem inspired women everywhere and became a hero to generations of feminists. Her words, her journalism, and her activism helped change the course of American history. The movement she helped build lives on—in the millions who continue the fight for equality and in the generations who will carry it forward.”
“Rest in power, Ms. Steinem.”
Other prominent women and organizations have also issued tributes in the wake of Steinem’s death. For example, former First Lady Jill Biden wrote:
“Gloria Steinem understood that women’s equality begins with the freedom to make decisions about our own bodies, health, and futures. For decades, she fought to make that freedom real for generations of women and girls. She spoke up when it was difficult, listened to those whose voices too often went unheard, and never stopped pushing our country forward. Joe and I are holding Gloria’s loved ones in our hearts today. Her voice changed our country, and her courage will continue to inspire us to keep fighting for the freedoms she spent her life defending.”
Steinem was born in Toledo, Ohio, on March 25, 1934. During her childhood, she lived in Michigan and Florida. When she was 11 years old, for the first time, she attended school regularly. After her parents divorced, she took care of her mother, who had serious mental health challenges. Steinem studied government in Smith College and graduated in 1956. She lived in India for two years on a Chester Bowles Fellowship. After working for the Independent Research Service, she became a freelance writer.
Steinem did not do what most women those days did: get married and become a mother. She said, “In the 1950s, once you married you became what your husband was, so it seemed like the last choice you'd ever have… I'd already been the very small parent of a very big child—my mother. I didn't want to end up taking care of someone else.”
However, in 2000, Steinem married David Bale, who in 2003 died from brain cancer. Some supporters of Steinem thought thar her marriage violated her decision to be single. Steinem defended her marriage:
“I didn't change. Marriage changed.”
“We spent 30 years in the United States changing the marriage laws. If I had married when I was supposed to get married, I would have lost my name, my legal residence, my credit rating, many of my civil rights. That's not true anymore. It's possible to make an equal marriage.”
She did not have her own children, but she was a stepmother to Bale’s four children, one of whom is Academy Award-winning actor Christian Bale.
A highlight of Steinem’s career was her exposé in Playboy in 1963. For her piece, entitled “A Bunny’s Tale,” she worked undercover as a bunny in Manhattan’s Playboy Club for 11 days. The 28-year old Steinem told Playboy she was 24. In 2020, she reflected on her time as a Bunny:
“Being a Playboy Bunny was like being hung on a meat hook.”
“I had to work very hard in 3-inch heels and a costume so tight that I could hardly breathe. I did not meet Hugh Hefner during the dreadful experience of being a Playboy Bunny, but I did meet him when I interviewed him. The most surprising thing about him was that he was pathetic. He was like an 8-year-old boy pretending to be a grown-up man.”
Her journalism led to work for Steinem at The New York Times and New York Magazine, but editors sometimes did not take her seriously. As she said about going undercover for her expose, “I could not have made a bigger mistake. It was personally and professionally a disaster. In the short term it was much harder to get serious assignments, and in the long term it’s been used to ridicule me.”
The legacy of Steinem’s stint as a Bunny continued decades later. In 2016, she said to The New York Times:
“To this day when people don’t like me, they introduce me as a former Bunny, as a put-down.”
“On the other hand, I did improve the working conditions for those women.”
Steinem made major contributions to the women’s movement and the world. She co-created the New York and Ms. Magazines. Ms. Magazine was the first feminist magazine and the first magazine that only women founded and ran. In addition, she co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus, Ms. Foundation for Women, Choice USA (which is now URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity), Free to Be Foundation, Women’s Media Center, and Women’s Action Alliance. Steinem also wrote multiple books and essays. In addition, she led multiple rallies. For example, in April 1996, Steinem and others led the March to Fight the Right of the National Organization for Women in San Francisco. In 1992, in New York City, Steinem is credited with founding the “Take Our Daughters to Work Day” as part of the Ms. Foundation. In 2003, the initiative was renamed “Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day.”
Steinem believed in women being elected to office. She remarked:
“I never wanted to be a politician or elected person myself, so I loved to work for other women who did—and hope that more girls will do that. The problem is the feeling that we’re divided from politics, that our vote doesn’t count or what we do doesn’t count. In fact, everything we do counts.”
Steinem was the subject of films and at least one play. HBO produced a documentary, entitled Gloria In Her Own Words. The Glorias film is a biopic that was based on Steinem’s memoir, entitled My Life on the Road. Steinem had cameos in The Glorias, other movies, and television shows. In October 2018, the play “Gloria: A Life” had its world premiere in New York City.
Throughout the years, Steinem received major honors. For example, in 1993, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2013, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the “highest civilian honor” in the U.S. In 2021, she was given the annual award for communication and humanities by Spain’s Princess of Asturias Awards.
Steinem was open about her health. In 1957, while living in London, Steinem was pregnant. She wanted an abortion, which was illegal in the United Kingdom except if the woman’s health was at risk. She had an abortion. Steinem was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1986 when she was 52 years old after she found a lump. She thought she would die from it, but she was treated and survived. She also had Trigeminal neuralgia, a pain condition that caused her to be unable to talk and walk.
Steinem is gone, but may her legacy always live on. The world will never be the same because of Steinem’s crucial contributions.
Let’s honor Steinem by continuing to improve the world for women and living her following words:
“Don't think about making women fit the world -- think about making the world fit women.”
“Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.”
Comments