Her death was announced Thursday
NEW YORK — Gloria Steinem, the journalist, author and organizer who became one of the most recognizable leaders of the modern American women’s movement, has died at 92.
Steinem died Wednesday, September 2, at her home in New York City after a period of declining health, according to a statement cited by the Associated Press and Reuters. The announcement was made Thursday. No additional medical details were immediately disclosed.
She had recently completed a memoir titled An Unexpected Life, scheduled for publication September 22. The book’s release will now become one of the first major public reassessments of her life after her death.
Read the source: Associated Press: Gloria Steinem dies at 92 ↗
Journalism opened the door to organizing
Steinem began as a freelance journalist. Her 1963 undercover reporting on working conditions inside a Playboy Club brought national attention but also exposed the sexism women faced inside the newsroom: editors often treated women’s equality as a niche subject rather than a defining political issue.
She helped found New York magazine in 1968. After attending an abortion-rights speak-out the following year, she increasingly combined reporting with organizing and public advocacy. In 1971, she helped establish the National Women’s Political Caucus alongside leaders including Bella Abzug, Shirley Chisholm and Betty Friedan.
Steinem then co-founded Ms. magazine, which brought abortion rights, equal pay, domestic violence and workplace discrimination into a national publication created around women’s lives rather than traditional expectations imposed on them.
Read the source: Reuters: Steinem’s death and five decades of advocacy ↗
A six-decade friendship tied Steinem to Kern County
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Steinem’s national legacy also runs through Kern County. Her friendship with Dolores Huerta began in 1967, when Huerta was in New York organizing support for the United Farm Workers’ national table-grape boycott, according to reporting by 23ABC.
Camila Chavez, Huerta’s daughter and executive director of the Bakersfield-based Dolores Huerta Foundation, told the station that Steinem helped connect Huerta with supporters who aided the boycott. Huerta, in turn, helped Steinem understand the experiences of farmworkers, working women and women of color—including the reproductive harm associated with toxic pesticide exposure.
Their relationship joined labor rights and women’s rights rather than treating either struggle as separate. Chavez said that exchange helped Huerta become a stronger advocate for feminism and reproductive choice while pushing Steinem toward a more inclusive understanding of the women’s movement.
Read the source: 23ABC: Camila Chavez on Steinem and Dolores Huerta’s six-decade friendship ↗
The movement was larger than any single leader
Steinem’s visibility made her a symbol, but the changes associated with second-wave feminism came from a broad, often contentious coalition of organizers, workers, writers and civil-rights advocates. Black, Latina, Indigenous, LGBTQ+ and working-class feminists repeatedly pushed the movement to confront race, poverty, sexuality and power alongside sex discrimination.
That history includes both major gains and unfinished work. Women expanded their political representation and legal protections, yet wage disparities, gender violence, restrictions on reproductive care and unequal caregiving burdens remain central public-policy fights.
Steinem used her platform to connect those struggles and helped create or support organizations including the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Women’s Media Center and Voters for Choice. Her influence was not a substitute for collective action; it was most consequential when it helped more people enter that work.
Read the source: Dolores Huerta Foundation: Bakersfield headquarters and Central Valley mission ↗
A legacy still present in today’s political battles
President Barack Obama awarded Steinem the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013, citing her reporting, organizing and role in expanding opportunities for women in media. The honor is the nation’s highest civilian award.
Her death comes as abortion access, workplace equality and political representation remain sharply contested. The Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade returned reproductive-rights battles to legislatures and ballot measures, making the organizing infrastructure Steinem helped build newly relevant to another generation.
The accompanying image is an authentic photograph of Steinem speaking at a women’s conference at the LBJ Library on November 9, 1975. The LBJ Library image is marked as public domain on Wikimedia Commons and is presented as a historical file photograph.
Read the source: Obama White House archive: 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom citation ↗
Sources and further reading
Associated Press: Gloria Steinem dies at 92 ↗
Reuters: Steinem’s death and five decades of advocacy ↗
23ABC: Camila Chavez on Steinem and Dolores Huerta’s six-decade friendship ↗
Dolores Huerta Foundation: Bakersfield headquarters and Central Valley mission ↗
Obama White House archive: 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom citation ↗
Wikimedia Commons: 1975 LBJ Library photograph, public domain ↗