September 3, 2026 at 2:53pm EDT

One of Gloria Steinem‘s earliest assignments involved her going undercover as a Playboy Bunny, rabbit ears and all, to expose a culture of degradation at New York’s Playboy Club. It ignited a decades-long pursuit to interrogate and dismantle the structures that oppress women. There are many still in place, but things are a little easier today thanks to Steinem and her contemporaries.

The feminist icon died Wednesday at her home in New York City, surrounded by loved ones. She was 92. “Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end,” her foundation confirmed in a statement posted to her Instagram account.

In the 1960s, Steinem told the story of the emerging women’s liberation movement to New York Magazine readers before co-founding Ms., the first national American magazine owned, operated, and written by women. Before any other mainstream publication was brave enough to, Steinem and her team were reporting on reproductive rights, domestic violence, and workplace inequality.

Steinem worked intently to boost women’s role in politics, co-founding the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971 to increase the number of female legislators.

It can be hard for the future generation to imagine a life before Steinem’s work, especially in an era when women’s rights might appear to be moving backwards. But before Steinem’s activism, women needed a man’s signature to apply for a credit card; they weren’t allowed to attend most Ivy League universities; unmarried women couldn’t buy contraception; and there was no safe or legal right to an abortion. This reality seems unimaginable, because Steinem made it so.