Source : Perth Now news
Gloria Steinem, a feminist pioneer and journalist whose work spearheaded the 20th century women’s rights movement, has died age 92.
Steinem’s official Instagram page revealed on Thursday she “passed away peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her”. The post confirmed that she had died a day earlier but did not specify any cause.
“Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end,” the post said.
It added that Steinem “lived true to her independent spirit, always with curiosity and a great sense of humor”. The online statement also highlighted how she was always ready to welcome hundreds of guests into her home for Talking Circles,” often using her residence as a “center for social justice movements.”
Representatives for Steinem were asked to light a candle to honour her and for any donations to be made to her charity, Gloria’s Foundation.
Steinem forged a fierce reputation for her dedication to a number of women’s causes, including reproductive freedom, prevention of domestic violence and working to remedy gender inequality in the workplace.
With her trademark streaked hair parted down the middle and large aviator glasses, Steinem, a co-founder of Ms. Magazine, was a hugely recognizable presence wherever she went. And she went everywhere: Much of her life as an advocate was spent on the road, speaking at college campuses and community centres, at rallies and marches.
“Gloria’s greatest gift was her ability to listen to others, to make others feel seen and heard,” the posts announcing her death said. “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 humour.”
When asked about her famous talking circles by The Associated Press in 2015, Steinem replied: “You can’t do it on the phone or on the web.”
“You have to be there with all five senses. It should be obvious that people can’t empathize with each other unless we’re in the same room.”
She began her career as a journalist, notably one who reported, in 1963, 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 favour of abortion rights, with changing her career path.
“That speak-out was the beginning of activism for me,” Steinem, who had undergone a secret illegal abortion herself at age 22, told the AP in an email in 2022, reflecting on the reversal of Roe v Wade. “Either our control over our own bodies is equal, regardless of sex or race, or we’re not living in a democracy.”
Though she soon became a known activist, those who watched Steinem denounce discrimination for so many years likely never suspected that she’d had to overcome a deep fear of public speaking. She would have simply stuck to writing, she said, if only editors at the time had been willing to let her write about the women’s movement.
But they weren’t interested, she told the AP in 2015. “So I ended up going out and speaking, which was my nightmare,” she said. “I mean, I was terrified. But I’m grateful, even though I still get scared even now.”
Time hardly slowed Steinem down; well into her 80s she was traveling the globe and speaking out on issues of importance to her. These included everything from genital mutilation to Korean reconciliation, but it was equality for women that took precedence.
“Being a feminist means that you see the world as whole instead of half,” she once said. “It shouldn’t need a name, and one day it won’t.”
As the years went on, Steinem’s visibility endured. At 83, she sat in the front row of her first fashion show, guest of designer Prabal Gurung. A few days after her 85th birthday, she was leading a women’s “talking circle” at an off-Broadway play celebrating her life, where one by one, women in the audience — many fighting tears — rose to thank her and tell their own stories of discrimination.
In 2020, her life was the subject of a feature film, The Glorias, A Life on The Road, based on her 2015 memoir and starring Julianne Moore.
And at 91, she collaborated on a picture book with Liberian peace activist and Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee aimed at inspiring young people to change the world. “Rise, Girl, Rise: Our Sister-Friend Journey. Together for All” was published in February 2026.
– with AAP
