Gloria Steinem Biography

Gloria Steinem became the voice and the face of feminism in the 1970s as a co-founder of Ms. magazine and the National Women’s Political Caucus.

A 1956 graduate of Smith College, Steinem spent two years on a fellowship in India and began a career in journalism. Settling in New York, her 1963 article “A Bunny’s Tale” put her on the map — it was an examination of the sexism in the Playboy Club, where she worked undercover as a “bunny.”

After freelancing for several years, Gloria Steinem was given a column in New York Magazine in 1968. She co-founded Ms. magazine in 1971 and its first full issue hit the stands in early 1972.

Since then, she’s been a high profile advocate for equal rights for women, receiving both praise and criticism from other feminists as the movement has changed over the years. A lecturer and writer, her work includes the 1969 article “After Black Power, Women’s Lib,” and the books Marilyn (1986, about actress Marilyn Monroe) and Revolution From Within: A Book of Self-Esteem (1992).