Gloria Steinem

Journalism Esquire magazine features editor Clay Felker gave freelance writer Steinem what she later called her first "serious assignment", regarding contraception; he didn't like her first draft and had her re-write the article. Her resulting 1962 article about the way in which women are forced to choose between a career and marriage preceded Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique by one year.

In 1963, while working on an article for Huntington Hartford's Show magazine, Steinem was employed as a Playboy Bunny at the New York Playboy Club. The article, published in 1963 as "A Bunny's Tale", featured a photo of Steinem in Bunny uniform and detailed how women were treated at those clubs. Steinem has maintained that she is proud of the work she did publicizing the exploitative working conditions of the Bunnies and especially the sexual demands made of them, which skirted the edge of the law. For a brief period after the article was published, Steinem was unable to land other assignments; in her words, this was "because [she] had now become a Bunny—and it didn't matter why". However, after the article was published the owner of Playboy, Hugh Hefner, wrote a letter stating he would remove requirements for Bunnies to get gynecological exams and STD testing.

In the interim, she conducted an interview with John Lennon for Cosmopolitan magazine in 1964. In 1965, she wrote for NBC-TV's weekly satirical revue, That Was The Week That Was (TW3), contributing a regular segment entitled "Surrealism in Everyday Life". Steinem eventually landed a job at Felker's newly founded New York magazine in 1968. Steinem had had an abortion herself in London at the age of 22. She felt what she called a "big click" at the speak-out, and later said she didn't "begin my life as an active feminist" until that day.

In 1972, she co-founded the feminist magazine Ms. alongside founding editors Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Mary Thom, Patricia Carbine, Joanne Edgar, Nina Finkelstein, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, and Mary Peacock; it began as a special edition of New York, and Clay Felker funded the first issue. Within weeks, Ms. had received 26,000 subscription orders and more than 20,000 reader letters. The magazine was sold to the Feminist Majority Foundation in 2001; Steinem remains on the masthead as one of six founding editors and serves on the advisory board.

Steinem spoke at the 1977 National Women's Conference among other speakers, including Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford, Lady Bird Johnson, Bella Abzug, Barbara Jordan, Cecilia Burciaga, Lenore Hershey, and Jean O'Leary.

In 1978, Steinem wrote a semi-satirical essay for Cosmopolitan titled "If Men Could Menstruate" in which she imagined a world where men menstruate instead of women. She concludes in the essay that in such a world, menstruation would become a badge of honor with men comparing their relative sufferings, rather than the source of shame that it had been for women.

On March 22, 1998, Steinem published an op-ed in The New York Times ("Feminists and the Clinton Question") in which she claimed that Bill Clinton's alleged behavior did not constitute sexual harassment, although she did not actually challenge the accounts by his accusers. The op-ed was criticized by various writers, as in the Harvard Crimson and in the Times itself. In 2017, Steinem, in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, stood by her 1998 New York Times op-ed, but also said: "I wouldn't write the same thing now."

Activism Early activism (1968–1976)

In 1968, Steinem signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. The following year, her article "After Black Power, Women's Liberation" brought her to national fame as a feminist leader. That same year she published her essay on a utopia of gender equality, "What It Would Be Like If Women Win", in Time magazine.

On July 10, 1971, Steinem was one of more than three hundred women who founded the National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC), including such notables as Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, and Myrlie Evers-Williams. As a co-convener of the Caucus, she delivered the speech "Address to the Women of America", stating in part:

In 1972, she ran as a delegate for Shirley Chisholm in New York, but lost. In March of the following year, she addressed the first national conference of Stewardesses for Women's Rights, which she continued to support throughout its existence. Stewardesses for Women's Rights folded in the spring of 1976. In doing so, however, Steinem forced the firing of Samuel R. Delany who had taken over scripting duties with issue #202. Delany was supposed to write a six-issue story arc, which would culminate in a battle over an abortion clinic where Wonder Woman was to defend women trying to use their services, a critical feminist issue at the time. The story outlines and the work already done on the issues was scrapped, something that Steinem was not aware of and made no attempt to rectify.

In 1976, the first women-only Passover seder was held in Esther M. Broner's New York City apartment and led by Broner, with 13 women attending, including Steinem.

Later activism (1980s–1990s) In 1984, Steinem was arrested along with a number of members of Congress and civil rights activists for disorderly conduct outside the South African embassy while protesting against the South African apartheid system.

At the outset of the Gulf War in 1991, Steinem, along with prominent feminists Robin Morgan and Kate Millett, publicly opposed a U.S. war in the Middle East and asserted the ostensible goal of "defending democracy" was a pretense. That same year, she voiced strong support for Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings and predicted that one day Hill herself would sit on the Supreme Court.

In 1992, Steinem co-founded Choice USA, a non-profit organization that mobilizes and provides ongoing support to a younger generation that lobbies for reproductive choice. The following year, she co-produced and narrated an Emmy Award-winning TV documentary for HBO about child abuse, called "Multiple Personalities: The Search for Deadly Memories". The Redstockings also singled her out for agreeing to cooperate with the CIA-backed Independent Research Service.

International activism on behalf of women On June 1, 2013, Steinem was a presenter at the "Chime For Change: The Sound Of Change Live" Concert at Twickenham Stadium in London, England. Later in 2014, UN Women began its commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, and as part of that campaign Steinem (and others) spoke at the Apollo Theater in New York City. Chime For Change was funded by Gucci, focusing on using innovative approaches to raise funds and awareness especially regarding girls and women.

Steinem has stated, "I think the fact that I've become a symbol for the women's movement is somewhat accidental. A woman member of Congress, for example, might be identified as a member of Congress; it doesn't mean she's any less of a feminist but she's identified by her nearest male analog. Well, I don't have a male analog so the press has to identify me with the movement. I suppose I could be referred to as a journalist, but because Ms. is part of a movement and not just a typical magazine, I'm more likely to be identified with the movement. There's no other slot to put me in."

Contrary to popular belief, Steinem did not coin the feminist slogan "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle". Although she helped popularize it, the phrase is actually attributable to Irina Dunn. When Time magazine published an article attributing the saying to Steinem, Steinem wrote a letter saying the phrase had been coined by Dunn. Another phrase sometimes wrongly attributed to Steinem is: "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament." Steinem herself attributed it to "an old Irish woman taxi driver in Boston", whom she said she and Florynce Kennedy met.

On May 24, 2015, International Women's Day for Disarmament thirty women, including two Nobel Peace laureates from 15 countries, linked arms with 10,000 Korean women, stationing themselves on both sides of the DMZ to urge a formal end to the Korean War (1950–1953), the reunification of families divided during the war, and a peace building process with women in leadership positions to resolve seventy years of hostility following WWII. It was unusual for South Korea and North Korea to reach consensus on allowing peace activists to enter the tense border area, one of the world's most dangerous places, where hundreds of thousands of troops are stationed in a heavily mined zone that divides South Korea from nuclear North Korea. In addition to Steinem, participants in crossing the DMZ included organizer Christine Ahn from Hawaii; feminist Suzuyo Takazato from Okinawa; Amnesty International human rights lawyer Erika Guevara of Mexico; Liberian peace and reconciliation advocate Leymah Gbowee; Philippines lawmaker Liza Maza; Northern Ireland peace activist Mairead Maguire and Colonel Ann Wright, a retired officer who resigned from the U.S. military to protest the US invasion of Iraq.

Steinem was the honorary co-chairwoman of 2015 Women's Walk For Peace In Korea with Mairead Maguire, and in the weeks leading up to the walk Steinem told the press, "It's hard to imagine any more physical symbol of the insanity of dividing human beings."

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. She has also written extensively on her travels, experiences with women and the Indian feminist movement with her colleague and friend, Ruchira Gupta. In 2014, Steinem and Gupta traveled through India to meet the country's young feminists, writers, and thought leaders.

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.

Involvement in political campaigns Steinem speaking with supporters at the Women Together Arizona Summit at Carpenters Local Union in Phoenix, Arizona, September 2016. Steinem's involvement in presidential campaigns stretches back to her support of Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 presidential campaign.

1968 election A proponent of civil rights and fierce critic of the Vietnam War, Steinem was initially drawn to Senator Eugene McCarthy because of his "admirable record" on those issues, but after meeting him and hearing him speak, she found him "cautious, uninspired, and dry". In 1968, Steinem was chosen to pitch the arguments to McGovern as to why he should enter the presidential race that year; he agreed, and Steinem "consecutively or simultaneously served as pamphlet writer, advance 'man', fund raiser, lobbyist of delegates, errand runner, and press secretary". Steinem later wrote this description of the events:

Although Steinem did not mention or advocate same-sex marriage in any published works or interviews for more than three decades, she again expressed support for same-sex marriage in the early 2000s, stating in 2004 that "[the] idea that sexuality is only okay if it ends in reproduction oppresses women—whose health depends on separating sexuality from reproduction—as well as gay men and lesbians." Steinem is also a signatory of the 2008 manifesto, "Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: A New Strategic Vision For All Our Families and Relationships", which advocates extending legal rights and privileges to a wide range of relationships, households, and families.

Transgender rights In 1977, Steinem expressed disapproval that the heavily publicized sex reassignment surgery of tennis player Renée Richards had been in her opinion characterized as either a frightening look at what feminism could cause or as proof that feminism was no longer necessary. Steinem wrote that the issue was at minimum "a diversion from the widespread problems of sexual inequality." She also wrote that, while she supported the right of individuals to identify as they choose, she believed some transsexuals "surgically mutilate their own bodies" in order to conform to a gender role that is inexorably tied to physical body parts. She claimed that "feminists are right to feel uncomfortable about the need for and uses of transsexualism." Steinem later in the piece expressed unequivocal support for transgender people, saying that transgender people "including those who have transitioned, are living out real, authentic lives. Those lives should be celebrated, not questioned."

Selected awards and honors

American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California's Bill of Rights Award Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law's International Advocate for Peace Award Biography magazine's 25 most influential women in America (Steinem was listed as one of them) Emmy Citation for excellence in television writing Equality Now's international human rights award, given jointly to her and Efua Dorkenoo (2000) FAO CERES Medalthumb|FAO CERES Steinem Silver Obverse Front Page award Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund's Liberty Award The Ms. Foundation for Women's Gloria Awards, given annually since 1988, are named after Steinem. National Gay Rights Advocates Award Parenting'''s Lifetime Achievement Award (1995) Rutgers University announced the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in September 2014. The chair was created to fund teaching and research for someone (not necessarily a woman) who exemplifies Steinem's values of equal representation in the media, and to have this person teach at least one undergraduate course per semester. Simmons College's Doctorate of Human Justice United Nations' Ceres Medal Recipient of the 2017 Ban Ki-moon Award For Women's Empowerment On May 20, 2019, Steinem received an honorary degree from Yale University. On May 19, 2021, Steinem received the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities.

In media

Biographies

Documentaries In 2011, Gloria: In Her Own Words, a documentary, first aired. In 2013, Steinem was featured in the documentary MAKERS: Women Who Make America about the feminist movement.

Portrayals by others Steinem's article, "A Bunny's Tale" was adapted as a made-for-television film of the same title in 1985, starring Kirstie Alley as Steinem. The play Gloria: A Life, about Steinem's life, opened October 2018 at the Daryl Roth Theatre, directed by Diane Paulus. The Glorias is an American biographical film about Steinem which premiered in 2020. In the film, she is played by four actresses who portray her life at various ages: Ryan Kiera Armstrong as a child, Lulu Wilson as a teen, Alicia Vikander between the ages of 20 and 40, and Julianne Moore as an older woman. In 2020, Steinem was portrayed by Rose Byrne in the FX miniseries Mrs. America, depicting the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

Appearances In 2005, Steinem appeared in season 2, episode 13 of The L Word. In 2014, Steinem appeared in the CNN series The Sixties, in the season 1 episodes 1968 and The Times They Are-a-Changin'. In 2014, Steinem appeared in season 6, episode 3, of the television show The Good Wife. In 2016, the television series Woman premiered, featuring Steinem as producer and host; it is a documentary series concerning sexist injustice and violence worldwide. In 2020, she appeared in season 1 of the documentary television series Dear. In 2023, she guest starred on the Season 2 episode "Alive!" of the Max series And Just Like That.... In 2025, Steinem appeared in Dear Ms.: A Revolution in Print, an HBO documentary focusing on the history of Ms.

Mentions In the musical Legally Blonde, which premiered in 2007, Steinem is mentioned in the scene where Elle Woods wears a flashy Bunny costume to a party, and must pretend to be dressed as Gloria Steinem "researching her feminist manifesto 'I Was A Playboy Bunny. (The actual name of the piece by Steinem being referred to here is "A Bunny's Tale".) 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. In Jennifer Lopez's 2016 music video for her song "Ain't Your Mama", Steinem can be heard saying part of her "Address to the Women of America" speech, specifically, "This is no simple reform. It really is a revolution."

Works The Thousand Indias (1957) The Beach Book (1963), New York: Viking Press. Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983), New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Marilyn: Norma Jean (1986), with George Barris, New York: Holt. Revolution from Within (1992), Boston: Little, Brown. Moving beyond Words (1993), New York: Simon & Schuster. The Media and the Movement: A User's Guide (2003) in Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium edited by Robin Morgan, New York:Washington Square Press Doing Sixty & Seventy (2006), San Francisco: Elders Academy Press. As if Women Matter: The Essential Gloria Steinem Reader (2014), co-written with Ruchira Gupta. My Life on the Road (2015), New York: Random House. The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off! (2015), illustrated by Samantha Dion Baker. New York: Random House. My Life on the Road (2016), New York: Random House.

The Gloria Steinem Papers are held in the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College, under collection number MS 237.