Feminist icon Gloria Steinem passes away

Gloria Steinem, one of the foremost figures of the American women's rights movement, a journalist and feminist activist, has died at the age of 92. According to a statement from Steinem's foundation, confirmed by the BBC on Thursday, September 3, she passed away peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by family and close friends.

Steinem was a vocal advocate for women's equal rights and freedom for more than five decades. The American writer and magazine editor became one of the most recognised faces of the women's liberation movement in the 1970s. She was also a co-founder of the 'Women's Action Alliance', an organisation dedicated to combating sexism .

In 1972, Steinem co-founded 'Ms.' magazine, which was notably different from mainstream women's publications at the time. By focusing on women's rights, discrimination, and social and political issues beyond the conventional topics of domesticity and beauty, the magazine quickly gained prominence .

Steinem was an active campaigner on various social issues, including women's reproductive rights, the legalisation of same-sex marriage, equal pay and equal rights. She also spoke out against the death penalty and female genital mutilation .

At the age of 22, Steinem had an illegal abortion in London. She later became a supporter of the landmark 1973 'Roe v Wade' ruling, which established a constitutional right to abortion in the United States, and witnessed its reversal later in her life .

Born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, Steinem had a challenging childhood and did not attend regular school full-time until the age of 12. After university, she went to India on a research scholarship in the late 1950s. During her two years there, she helped village women organise non-violent protests against government policies, an experience that fuelled her interest in grassroots social movements.

She returned to New York in the early 1960s and began working as a freelance journalist. Her investigative report on the working conditions of Playboy Club employees brought her recognition . She later became a columnist for New York Magazine.