US feminist Gloria Steinem dies at the age of 92

American feminist, journalist and author Gloria Steinem is dead. She died peacefully at her home in New York on Wednesday at the age of 92, her foundation announced on Instagram on Thursday. Steinem was surrounded by some of the many people who loved her. A cause of death was not initially given.

Steinem shaped the American women's movement for more than six decades and was one of the best-known representatives of the so-called second wave of feminism. She advocated for abortion rights, legal equality and women's economic independence. She also pushed for the experiences of black women and other minorities to be included more fully in the movement.

She wanted to pave the way for women to hold political office

Steinem gained national fame in 1963 with an undercover report on the New York Playboy Club. She worked there as a so-called Playboy Bunny for the magazine “Show” and then described the working conditions of the waitresses. At the end of the 1960s she was one of the co-founders of “New York Magazine” and wrote there about politics and social conflicts.

In 1969, an event about women's experiences with illegal abortions led Steinem deeper into the feminist movement. She herself had an abortion, which was illegal at the time, in London at the age of 22 and later wrote about it in her memoir “My Life on the Road,” published in 2015. The fight for reproductive self-determination remained a focus of her work.

In 1971, Steinem founded the National Women's Political Caucus with politicians and activists such as BellaAbzug, Shirley Chisholm and Betty Friedan, which was intended to pave the way for women to political office. That same year, “Ms.” for the first time as a supplement to “New York Magazine”; In 1972 the feminist magazine came onto the market as an independent publication. It covered, among other things, domestic violence, sexual harassment in the workplace, abortion rights and legal equality between the sexes. Steinem remained associated with the magazine for decades.

Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Gloria Marie Steinem was born on March 25, 1934 in Toledo, Ohio. After her parents separated, she looked after her mentally ill mother for years. In 1956 she graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts with a degree in political science. She then went to India on a scholarship, where she became familiar with forms of political grassroots work. After her return she worked as a freelance journalist in New York.

Steinem helped found several organizations, including the Women's Action Alliance and the Women's Media Center. She published numerous essays and books and saw herself primarily as a writer throughout her life. In 2000 she married the South African entrepreneur and environmental activist David Bale, who died in 2003.

US President Barack Obama awarded Steinem the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor, in 2013. Even in her old age, she continued to write and invited activists to discussions in her New York home. These meetings should continue at her will, her foundation said.