Gloria Steinem, the writer and magazine editor who became a leader of the women’s liberation movement in the United States, has died at 92. In a post on Instagram, her foundation said she “passed away peacefully” at her home in New York City on Wednesday, “surrounded by many who loved her.” No cause of death has been given. Ms. magazine and the Women’s Media Center, two organizations she co-founded, also confirmed her death.
Steinem worked as a writer and magazine editor before she became known as an organizer. In 1963, she published “A Bunny’s Tale” in Show magazine — an exposé she wrote after working undercover as a Playboy Club Bunny to report on the working conditions there. It followed her move to New York in the early 1960s as a freelance writer.
She was born March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, and had a difficult childhood; she did not attend school full-time until she was 12. After graduating from Smith College in 1956, she spent two years in India, where her work — including helping village women organize nonviolent protests — sparked her interest in grassroots activism.
Key facts
- Died: Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, at her home in New York City, at age 92; her foundation said in a post on Instagram that she “passed away peacefully,” surrounded by many who loved her.
- Born: March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio.
- Best known for: Co-founding Ms. magazine and her leadership of the U.S. women’s liberation movement.
- Honor: Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by President Barack Obama in 2013.
- Last book: Memoir “My Life on the Road,” published in 2015.
Decades of organizing
Steinem went on to found or co-found a string of organizations. In the early 1970s she co-founded Ms. magazine, the feminist publication; its preview issue appeared in December 1971, with regular publication beginning the following year. She also co-founded the Women’s Action Alliance more than 50 years ago and helped start the National Women’s Political Caucus. In 2005, she co-founded the Women’s Media Center with Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan.
In 1970, she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, the long-stalled measure meant to guarantee equal legal rights regardless of sex. In the decades that followed, she spoke and wrote publicly about reproductive rights, including her account of having had an abortion at 22, and spoke in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage and equal pay, while opposing the death penalty and female genital mutilation.
One line often attributed to her — “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” — was not hers; she said so herself, correcting Time magazine when it credited her as its author.
In 2013, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, telling her: “Because of her work, across America and around the world, more women are afforded the respect and opportunities that they deserve… She also changed how women thought about themselves.” Her most recent book, the memoir “My Life on the Road,” was published in 2015.
Steinem married David Bale — the father of actor Christian Bale — in September 2000, at 66. He died of brain lymphoma, a type of cancer, in December 2003, after three years of marriage. She had no biological children of her own.
Tributes
The Women’s Media Center, which Steinem co-founded, issued a statement mourning her death, and it included a tribute from Jane Fonda, who said: “Gloria, in her graceful, kind, and deeply intelligent way, changed the world we live in.” Tributes came from beyond the organizations she built, too. Hillary Clinton said: “Gloria was at heart an optimist. Her activism was rooted in optimism, and that’s a moral choice, and she made it every day.” Meghan Markle said: “You all know her many accolades and the way in which she helped shape the world for woman and all people.”