American writer and journalist Gloria Steinem, one of the most prominent figures in feminist activism, passed away on September 2 at her home in New York at the age of 92, according to a post on her Instagram profile.
“Gloria Steinem died peacefully at her New York home, surrounded by some of the many people who loved her. Gloria’s nearly 100 years in this world were well-lived years, and she continued working for equality until the end,” the message posted on the social network states.
“Gloria’s greatest gift was her ability to listen to others, to make them feel seen and heard. Her words, actions, and example gave people the freedom to be themselves. Gloria lived true to her independent spirit, always curious and with a great sense of humor,” it adds.
Born on March 25, 1934, she did not regularly attend school until she was 11 years old, due to her family’s moves across the United States. Much of her life was spent traveling, giving talks on university campuses and community centers, and participating in rallies and marches.
Steinem, born in Toledo (Ohio), was one of the most influential voices of the women’s movement in the United States and a staunch advocate for feminist causes.
In fact, she experienced illegal abortion and suffered breast cancer in the 1980s.
She collaborated with the magazine Huntington Hartford’s Show in the 1960s. She even infiltrated the Playboy Club in New York as a “bunny” to expose the conditions in which those women lived.
She was a member of the founding team of New York Magazine in 1968 and, after covering an event about abortion, developed the concept of “reproductive freedom,” that is, the freedom to have children or not.
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Along with other feminists, such as Bella Abzug and Betty Friedan, she created the National Women’s Political Caucus and was a founder in the 1970s, together with Dorothy Pitman Hughes, of the feminist magazine Ms.
In Spain, in 2021, the writer won the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities.
Before becoming involved as a freelance writer on issues affecting women, writing for Esquire magazine, she had studied Government at the American university Smith College and worked as director of the “Independent Research Service,” an organization funded by the CIA.
During her last years, she received hundreds of guests in her home’s room for the Talking Circles and, in her upcoming book, An Unexpected Life, she wrote: “I have already lived for more than fifty years in this brownstone-type house, in rooms that have witnessed lives before mine and will know others after I am gone.”
After her death, her commitment remains that her house becomes a center for social justice movements because, as she thought and said: “The flutter of a butterfly can change the weather hundreds of miles away.”
Her wish is that those who wish to honor her, instead of sending flowers, make a donation to the Gloria Foundation.
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