Gloria Steinem, a pioneering figure in women’s publishing and feminist activism, died Wednesday at the age of 92. Steinem is widely credited with transforming the landscape of women’s media through her role in founding Ms. magazine in 1971, a publication that marked a significant departure from the traditionally domestic and fashion-focused women’s magazines of the time.

Ms. magazine was the first major women’s publication owned and operated by women, with a distinct editorial emphasis on topics such as abortion rights, domestic violence, and gender equality. It challenged prevailing norms by treating women as full human beings and making their social and political issues central to public discourse. In a 1973 interview, Steinem described this foundational principle as revolutionary, given that most other magazines continued to debate women’s basic humanity.

Before launching Ms. magazine, Steinem had established herself as a journalist in mainstream publications, including Esquire, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and McCall’s. One of her early notable works was an undercover investigation into the working conditions of Playboy bunnies for Show magazine in 1963. She also contributed pieces to The New York Times and became a founding contributing editor at New York magazine in 1968. There, she wrote a weekly column covering cultural and political issues, demonstrating her keen insight into the dynamics of the Vietnam War era, New York City politics, and social unrest.

Despite her success at New York magazine, Steinem often encountered skepticism about feminism even among colleagues. She recalled how male peers advised her to avoid involvement with feminist activists, advice she ultimately disregarded. Recognizing a void in media controlled by women, Steinem and her colleagues launched Ms. magazine initially as a 32-page insert in the December 1971 issue of New York magazine. Its first preview issue sold 300,000 copies in eight days, signaling strong public demand. The first standalone issue in July 1972 famously featured Wonder Woman on the cover and included a petition signed by 53 prominent women advocating for abortion legalization, a highly controversial stance at the time.

The magazine quickly became a platform for candid discussions about women’s rights and experiences that were often stigmatized or ignored. It published work by leading voices such as Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, and Angela Davis, and attracted both enthusiastic readership and criticism. Advertisers were sometimes reluctant to associate with the magazine, libraries banned it, and some newsstands in the southern United States refused to carry issues featuring Black women on the cover. Internal debates about the magazine’s inclusiveness and radicalism also shaped its evolution.

Over the decades, the influence of Ms. magazine has waned in the face of shifting media landscapes, with several legacy women’s publications ending their print editions. Ms. continues to publish online and four print issues annually through the nonprofit Feminist Majority Foundation. Under Steinem’s leadership and that of her early collaborators, the magazine played a crucial role in redefining women’s journalism by centering gender as a serious subject rather than a supplemental topic.

Emily Ramshaw, CEO of the nonprofit newsroom The 19th, characterized Steinem’s career as one of insisting that women were not a niche audience and that gender-focused journalism could be both rigorous and unapologetic. Kathy Spillar, Ms.’s executive editor for the past 20 years, noted that Steinem and her contemporaries did more than just add women’s voices; they fundamentally reshaped what counted as news. Through her work, Steinem left a lasting legacy that continues to influence feminist media and advocacy today.