US 'Godmother of the Women's Movement' Gloria Steinem Dies at 92

Gloria Steinem, an iconic figure in the American women's movement, passed away at the age of 92 on September 2, 2026 (local time).

The Steinem Foundation announced her passing via Instagram, a social networking service, stating that she died at her home in New York City.

Women’s rights activist Steinem. Photo by The Asia Business Daily DB

Steinem was a women's rights activist and renowned journalist in the United States. She was born in 1934 in Toledo, Ohio, and graduated with a degree in political science from Smith College, one of the most prestigious universities in the East.

After graduation, Steinem worked as a college magazine reporter. In 1963, she gained national attention by going undercover as a "bunny girl" at the Playboy Club and exposing the harsh labor exploitation there in an investigative article. She then fully dedicated herself to the women's movement through her 1969 article, "Women’s Liberation After the Civil Rights Movement." In 1972, she co-founded the progressive feminist magazine Ms.

The magazine drew major attention by promoting the idea that women should not be addressed differently as "Mrs." or "Miss" based on their marital status, but instead should be called "Ms."

She worked to enshrine women’s representation in Congress and the prohibition of gender discrimination in the Constitution by advocating for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). She also spoke out on a broad range of social issues, including securing civil rights for Black Americans and ending the Vietnam War, and is regarded as a leading figure in the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

In 2002, she made her first visit to South Korea, and in 2015 she served as honorary chairwoman of "WomenCrossDMZ," an event that involved walking across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

In a 2015 interview with the Associated Press, she said, "If we are not in the same space, we cannot achieve true empathy," and added, "We need to be physically present at the site, experiencing it with our five senses."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.