Gloria Steinem: Feminist activist and journalist dies, aged 92 - 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 Feminist activist and journalist Gloria Steinem dies, aged 92 To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This video can not be played Figure caption, Watch: Gloria Steinem talks about her legacy in 2023 BBC interview By Mallory Moench Published 3 September 2026 Gloria Steinem, who became a leader of the women's liberation movement in the US, has died aged 92. In a post on Instagram, her foundation said she "passed away peacefully" at her home in New York City on Wednesday, "surrounded by many who loved her". Steinem, who was a writer and magazine editor, co-founded the Women's Action Alliance - a group dedicated to fighting sexism - more than 50 years ago. She started her career as a journalist in New York and went on to co-found Ms. magazine, one of the first publications to focus on women's issues other than housekeeping and beauty. During the 1970s, Steinem was a vocal campaigner for women's reproductive rights, among other causes. She herself obtained an illegal abortion in London when she was 22 years old, and years later celebrated the US Supreme Court's 1973 ruling in the case of Roe v Wade, which granted women the constitutional right to abortion. Nearly half a century later she witnessed the reversal of this decision. She also spoke out in favour of the legalisation of same-sex marriage, as well as equal rights and pay for women, and protested against the death penalty and female genital mutilation. Image so