Born on March 25, 1934 in Toledo, Ohio, she had a difficult childhood and did not attend school full time until she was 12 years old.
After university in the late 1950s, she went to India on a research scholarship and spent two years in a variety of roles, including helping village women organize nonviolent protests against government policies, which sparked her interest in grassroots activism.
She then moved to New York City in the early 1960s to begin her career as a freelance writer. Her big break came thanks to an exposure of Playboy Bunny’s working conditions.
She eventually became a columnist for New York Magazine, before founding Ms. magazine in 1972.
Famous for avoiding marriage, she married David Bale, a South African-born environmental businessman and father of actor Christian Bale, in 2000. He died three years later from brain lymphoma.
In 2013, then-President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.
His foundation stated that it “continued to work for equality until the end.”
“Gloria’s greatest gift was her ability to listen to others, to make others feel seen and heard. Her words, actions and example gave people permission to be themselves. Gloria lived true to her independent spirit, always with curiosity and a great sense of humor.”
His foundation said he lived his final years in community and writing, hosting guests at his home for “Conversation Circles,” a tradition he will continue.
Her commitment to her home becoming a center for social justice movements and a forthcoming book, An Unexpected Life, are “among the many gifts Gloria has given to the world in the hopes that they will have ripple effects for generations to come,” the foundation said.
Tributes poured in on Thursday after news of her death, with writers and feminists commenting on Instagram with gratitude, some of them saying she had changed their lives.
Meghan Markle “celebrated the life and legacy of my friend and mentor,” along with photos of the couple on Instagram.
“You all know her many accolades and the way she helped shape the world for women and all people,” Markle said, but added that beyond their work together, Steinem “privately, was even better than you imagine.”
Steinem spent Thanksgiving with Markle’s family, introduced the young woman to one of her best friends, loved “our children with all her heart, counseled me through difficult times, and gave me extraordinary advice and perspective over a cup of tea and unparalleled sass and wit,” she said.
Markle now “proudly” wears a bracelet given to her by Steinem that says “we are linked, not classified.”
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and 2016 presidential candidate said Steinem was “one of the architects of the entire structure of women’s equality, I mean breaking down those barriers so that young women could participate where their talents and hard work took them.”
“Gloria was an optimist at heart,” Clinton told CBS Mornings on Thursday.
“His activism was rooted in optimism, and that’s a moral choice, and he did it every day.”
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