Journalist and activist Gloria Steinem dedicated her life to fighting for women’s rights, from reproductive freedom to workplace equality.
Now, after her death at age 92, notable figures from politics to pop culture are offering their remembrances — and personal thanks — to the feminist icon. They’re also vowing to continue her work.
Gloria Steinem, trailblazing journalist and activist, dies at 92
“She pushed open doors not just for herself, but for literally millions of women behind her,” former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — the first female presidential nominee of a major U.S. political party — wrote in a lengthy Facebook tribute.
Clinton was one of many women in national politics sharing their praise and gratitude for Steinem. Others include former first lady Jill Biden, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority whip Katherine Clark, who said she hung a pair of photos of Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes on her office wall the day she moved in.
“She wasn’t going to be an astronaut, but my goodness, she made it possible for Sally Ride to be an astronaut,” Clinton wrote. “She wasn’t going to play college sports, but she stood behind the women in Congress who passed Title IX and opened up opportunities in sports and academics for girls. And she wasn’t on the Supreme Court when Roe v. Wade was decided, but her voice and her activism was behind that advancement for women’s rights.”
Steinem emerged in the 1960s as a leading face of second-wave feminism. That role was firmly cemented the following decade, when she co-founded both the National Women’s Political Caucus and Ms.magazine.
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Steinem helped normalize conversations about workplace sexism, bursting onto the scene in 1963 with an exposé about her undercover stint as a waitress at Hugh Hefner’s New York Playboy Club, and abortion, after sharing her experience getting one abroad in the 1950s. She is credited with helping increase the number of women in elected office and bringing feminism into the mainstream at a time when the law kept women from obtaining credit cards and bank accounts in their own names.
After her death on Wednesday, younger generations of high-profile women took to social media to honor and thank Steinem. Many of their stories were personal.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wrote about working with Steinem to mobilize young voters, making public appearances at interviews and award ceremonies.
“But privately, she was even better than you would imagine- spending Thanksgiving with our family, introducing me to one of my best friends (forever the champion of female friendship), loving our children with her whole heart, counseling me during hard times, and giving extraordinary advice and perspective with a cup of tea and an unrivaled cheekiness and wit,” she wrote, alongside photos including one of Steinem with her young son.
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Actress Julianne Moore wrote on Instagram that the time she spent studying Steinem — to play her in the 2020 film The Glorias — was “one of the most edifying of my life.”
“Everything I watched, everything I read, everything I observed about her gave me a template for how I wanted to behave,” Moore wrote. “Her honesty, her tolerance, her patience, and her insistence on humanism and inclusion as she moved through the world offers us all a moral roadmap.”
It wasn’t just women sharing acknowledgments and anecdotes. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., paid tribute, as did former and current New York City mayors Mike Bloomberg and Zohran Mamdani (Steinem called the city home for more than six decades).
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., wrote that he first met Steinem while working with Sen. George McGovern (no relation) in the 1970s.
“Later, when I first thought about running for office, she met with me, listened to what I had to say, and told me to run even if the establishment wrote me off,” he added. “She was a bright light to the very end and never stopped fighting for what she believed in.”
Scores of cultural figures — from Oprah Winfrey to Paris Hilton to Stacey Abrams to Billie Jean King — shared heartfelt messages and posts about what Steinem meant to them, and the importance of continuing her work. Several peeled back the curtain on their longtime friendships.
In a lengthy Instagram post, actress and writer Lena Dunham said she first met Steinem as a “lost twenty something,” and gratefully received her advice over the years on “everything from men (can be fun, aren’t required) to activism (it’s a marathon, not a race.).” She said she was one of many such lucky beneficiaries.
“You weren’t just generous with your life force, your vision or your intellect: you were generous with your time, your laughter and even your jewelry (like the time I admired your silver vulva ring and you plucked it off your hand and placed it on mine.),” Dunham wrote.
British actress and activist Jameela Jamil, who called Steinem “a guiding light for me,” wrote about an evening several months ago where the two sat in Steinem’s apartment talking about the world and “our adventures together over the years.”
Jamil said Steinem was worried about the state of the world, women and reproductive rights. Steinem saw the Supreme Court affirm the right to abortion in Roe v. Wadein 1973 and decades later, overturn it, in 2022. She said Steinem told her about her plans, “92 and still fighting.”
“I feel such pain that she left in a moment where it appears the rights she fought for us to have are being rolled back,” Jamil wrote. “She expressed disbelief to me as to how fast the pendulum is swinging back. And it lit a fire in me, to make sure her work and the work of the incredible women before her and around her, was not in vain.”
Steinem told NPR after the reversal of Roethat she didn’t feel her life’s work was being stripped down — and never doubted that the fight would continue.
“I think it’s important to connect the ancient to the new, because otherwise we don’t understand the strong thread of patriarchy and racism that has been with us and continues to be with us,” she said.
Steinem’s second memoir, An Unexpected Life, is set for release later this month.
