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United States Gloria Steinem is a globally recognized writer, lecturer, political activist, and feminist organizer who has dedicated her career to advancing equality and non-violent conflict resolution.
In 2005, Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Robin Morgan co-founded the Women's Media Center, an organization that 'works to make women visible and powerful in the media'.
Political activist, feminist, and writer Gloria Steinem has teamed up with vegan social justice beauty brand The Lipstick Lobby to create a new lip balm.
In Jan. 1972, I resigned as editor of McCall's and Gloria and I, as partners, began our search for financial backing for Ms. magazine. Even ...
She cited her partnership with Florynce Kennedy, a legendary Black female civil rights lawyer and women activist, as an example. During the 1970s, the two would ...
Chime For Change was funded by Gucci, focusing on using innovative approaches to raise funds and awareness especially regarding girls and women.
She is also the chair of the advisory board of Apne Aap Women Worldwide, an organization fighting sex trafficking and inter-generational prostitution in India, founded by Ruchira Gupta.
Since 2011, Steinem has been one co-conveners of the Frontline Women's Fund, a project of the Sisterhood Is Global Institute along with former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and Jessica Neuwirth. The Frontline Women's Fund is a fund for women that strengthens frontline women's rights activists around the world by increasing their access to financial resources, political leaders, and media visibility. As of 2025, they support 28 partner organizations in 13 countries and manage four thematic funds including the Gloria Steinem Equality Fund to End Sex Trafficking with 13 grantees and the Efua Dorkenoo Fund to End Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) with 7 grantees.
At a Planned Parenthood event in Boston, Steinem declared Bush 'a danger to health and safety', citing his antagonism to the Clean Water Act, reproductive freedom, sex education, and AIDS relief.
In 2016, Steinem was featured in the catalog of clothing retailer Lands' End. After an outcry from anti-abortion customers, the company removed Steinem from their website. The company then faced further criticism online, this time both from customers who were still unhappy that Steinem had been featured in the first place, and customers who were unhappy that Steinem had been removed.
Gloria Marie Steinem, born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her early life was significantly shaped by her mother’s illness and her parents’ separation in 1944. Steinem pursued her education at Smith College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude. Before her prominent role in the feminist movement, she spent two years in India as a Chester Bowles Asian Fellow in the late 1950s, where she was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s independence movement. Upon her return, she worked with the Independent Research Service, an organization later revealed to be secretly funded by the CIA, aiming to send non-Communist American students to the 1959 World Youth Festival. In 1960, she joined Warren Publishing as the first employee of “Help!” magazine.
Steinem’s journalistic career began with a “serious assignment” on contraception for Esquire magazine in 1962, followed by her notable undercover work as a Playboy Bunny for a 1963 Show magazine article titled “A Bunny’s Tale.” This investigative piece exposed the exploitative working conditions for women in Playboy Clubs, though it initially made it difficult for her to secure other assignments. By 1968, she joined Clay Felker’s newly established New York magazine. A turning point in her activism occurred in 1969 after covering an abortion speak-out for New York Magazine; having had an abortion herself in 1957, this event solidified her commitment to an active feminist life. In 1972, Steinem co-founded Ms. magazine, which quickly gained national attention with its 300,000 test copies selling out in eight days. She became the first woman to speak at the National Press Club in the same year. During the 1970s, she also co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus and the Women’s Action Alliance, advocating for women in elected office and women’s rights.
Throughout her career, Steinem has consistently championed women’s rights and equality through various initiatives and platforms. She was a key player in the restoration of Wonder Woman’s powers and traditional costume in the early 1970s, featuring the character on the first issue of Ms. magazine. In later years, she helped establish Take Our Daughters to Work Day in the 1990s. Beyond her direct activism, Steinem has been a prolific author and speaker, addressing topics such as female genital mutilation, feminist theory, and same-sex marriage. She has received numerous accolades for her contributions, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. Steinem continues to travel internationally as an organizer and lecturer, serving as a media spokesperson on equality issues and remaining a significant voice in the feminist movement.
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