Feminist Icon Gloria Steinem Witnesses Powerful Cultural Backlash Against Lifelong Legacy

It was the fight for abortion rights that launched Gloria Steinem into feminism. Steinem pivoted into activism in her thirties after attending a meeting in 1969 where women discussed abortion rights, an experience that empowered her to speak publicly for the first time about a secret abortion she had undergone in London at age 22. That moment marked the beginning of a lifelong activism that would come to define one of the most consequential careers in modern American feminism.

The idea that women could not achieve true equality without the ability to decide whether or when to have children became central to the feminist movement of the late 1960s, a movement Steinem came to embody until her death on Wednesday at age 92. According to a statement from her official social media channels, Steinem "passed away peacefully" at her home in New York City, "surrounded by some of the many who loved her." No cause of death was given. "Gloria's near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end," the statement said, adding that she remained true to her independent spirit throughout her life, marked always by curiosity and a strong sense of humor.

The victories of the movement Steinem helped lead dramatically transformed American culture and family life, contributing to a substantial surge of women entering the workforce in the decades that followed. Even so, advocates have continued to fight against a persistent gender wage gap, workplace sexual harassment, and unequal representation for women in the top ranks of corporations and political office, underscoring that the equality Steinem envisioned remains, in many respects, an unfinished project.

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Yet Steinem lived to witness the rise of a powerful backlash against the vision of feminism she had spent decades championing, with reproductive rights, motherhood, childbearing, and gender roles once again positioned at the center of America's cultural and political battles. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion nationwide. In the years since, 13 states have instituted total or near-total abortion bans, while four additional states now bar the procedure after roughly six weeks of pregnancy, a point at which many women have not yet realized they are pregnant. Steinem publicly characterized the overturning of Roe as a setback for democracy itself.

For Christian conservative activists, however, the ruling represented a major victory, one that has helped embolden a broader movement encouraging men and women to embrace traditional gender roles, often while attributing declining birthrates, rising divorce rates, and a perceived devaluation of marriage and motherhood to the influence of feminism. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, reflecting on Steinem's legacy, told CBS Mornings that Steinem was "one of the architects of the entire structure of women's equality," someone whose activism was rooted fundamentally in optimism, a moral choice Clinton said Steinem made anew every day of her life. Steinem's death now leaves the movement she helped define to navigate an uncertain and contested future without one of its most enduring and recognizable voices.

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