Gloria Steinem: An icon of American feminism - BBC News BBC Homepage Skip to content Accessibility Help Your account Home News Sport Earth Reel Worklife Travel Culture Future Music TV Weather Sounds More menu More menu Search BBC Home News Sport Earth Reel Worklife Travel Culture Future Music TV Weather Sounds Close menu BBC News Menu Home Climate World UK Business Tech Science Entertainment & Arts Health In Pictures More BBC Verify Newsbeat World Africa Asia Australia Europe Latin America Middle East US & Canada How Gloria Steinem changed the lives of generations of women To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This video can not be played Figure caption, Watch: Gloria Steinem dedicated her life to fight for women's equality By Tiffany Wertheimer Published 3 September 2026 Gloria Steinem was a powerful icon of America's feminist movement and her career spanned numerous roles that changed the lives of generations of women. With her iconic aviator sunglasses and long, blonde-streaked hair - which she considered rebellious in the 1970s - Steinem was an internationally recognised activist in the fight for women's equality. She spoke out for the legalisation of abortion, same-sex marriage, and equal rights and pay for women, and protested against the death penalty and female genital mutilation. Her activism was not without a backlash - from both men and women - and harassment that could be as vulgar as it was intimidating. The early years Born on 25 March 1934 in Toledo, Ohio, Gloria Steinem did not have an easy childhood. Her father Leo Steinem was a travelling salesman and, together with her mother Ruth and older sister Susanne, they lived in a caravan, crisscrossing the country. Leo abandoned the family and moved to California when Steinem was 10 years old, leaving her to care for Ruth who had long suffered with mental illness and had terrifying hallucinations. As a result, Steinem did not go to school full-time until she was 12 years old. I