Gloria Steinem's Total Transformation From Young Activist To Feminist Icon

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There are just some women who stand out in the crowd, not content to leave the world without making their mark and inspiring progress. Gloria Steinem could be counted as one of them, a force for positive change for women's rights. Having passed at the age of 92 on September 2, 2026, Steinem was irrefutably a bold and brave woman who refused to be boxed in by what was expected of women. 

Steinem constantly thought of others, while being outspoken in highlighting the deep injustices faced by the women in her day and continuing the fight up until her death. From her back-breaking, revolutionary work as a journalist to a successful, thought-provoking author, Steinem's legacy is one not soon to be forgotten. Although you can choose to remember her through these five Gloria Steinem books every woman needs on her TBR, we think Steinem's inspiring transformation from a bright-eyed activist to an established feminist icon deserves its own spotlight. 

An idyllic childhood was not on the cards for a young Gloria Steinem, which was marked by poverty and instability. Her father's abandonment of her and her mentally ill mother left an indelible mark on Steinem's psyche, and influenced how she viewed a woman's place in the world. It was what eventually led Steinem to decide to stay far away from marriage and children, as well as the belief that there's more for women in life than just the role of homemaker.

"[My mother] led me toward an activist place where she herself could never go," Steinem wrote in her 2015 memoir "My Life on the Road," per The Guardian.

Although she went to university to study government, Steinem found herself drawn to journalism. She showed that she was serious about highlighting women's issues when she decided to pose as one of the infamous Playboy Club's 'bunnies.' Instead of the financial and sexual freedom Hugh Hefner claimed he was promoting for women, Steinem exposed how utterly demeaning it all was. 

Titled "A Bunny's Tale," Steinem's shocking story was published in Show magazine in 1963 and catapulted her to the public consciousness as a force to be reckoned with. 

After her Playboy Club piece rocked the world, Steinem decided to take her journalism career to another level. While working for New York Magazine, the staunch feminist launched her own magazine in 1972, dubbed Ms. Magazine. Launched in collaboration with other notable feminists of the time, Steinem used the magazine to peel back the curtain on the realities women faced. 

From marital abuse and workplace discrimination, it was a gritty, in-your-face publication. It forced the public to veer away from the usual safe topics of homemaking or beauty, though Gloria Steinem's own beauty philosophy did go hand-in-hand with her feminist ideals.

However, Steinem's crusade for the advancement of women's rights was not without its critics. Naturally, there were men who disregarded and downplayed Steinem's achievements, but even other feminists were critical. Notable feminist Betty Friedan lambasted her for being a feminist for purely monetary reasons, with other criticisms being that Steinem was taking advantage of her conventionally attractive looks to benefit herself. 

But Steinem never took the criticism to heart and was staunch in her beliefs. She never let it get in the way of prioritizing women's rights above all else.

Although her traumatic childhood might have steered her away from notions of marriage, Steinem found someone who managed to change her mind. She fell in love and married respectable animal rights advocate David Bale in 2000, who is the father of famous actor Christian Bale. Their marriage was short-lived, however, when Bale lost his fight with brain cancer in 2003. 

But Steinem never regretted the marriage and still spoke fondly of her late husband and their time together years after his death. "I hope this proves what feminists have always said — that feminism is about the ability to choose what's right at each time of our lives," Steinem shared, per People.

Gloria Steinem never stopped being an activist, and continued her work well into her 90s. She used her apartment in New York's upscale Upper East Side from 1967 to kickstart "Talking Circles." These intimate talks not only covered the most pressing concerns facing women in the 20th and 21st centuries, but they also discussed other issues such as environmental pollution.

Steinem held her last "Talking Circles" session in February 2026, and it seemed that her mind was clear until the end. "She was funny and she was sharp," Dominique Browning, who attended the session in question, recounted to People.