Gloria Steinem, a lifelong champion of women’s equality and co-founder of Ms. magazine, died Sept. 2, 2026, at age 92. For more than half a century, Steinem helped bring feminist ideas, voices and movements into the mainstream through journalism, organizing and activism—and helped build Ms. into what it remains today: not simply a magazine, but a movement.
“When Steinem and the other owners of Ms. entrusted the magazine to the Feminist Majority Foundation, we understood that we were being entrusted with far more than a publication,” said Katherine Spillar, executive director of Feminist Majority Foundation and executive editor of Ms. “We were being asked to preserve an independent feminist institution, and to keep it alive, questioning and relevant for generations that would face battles we could not yet foresee. That responsibility is more urgent today than at any time in recent memory.”
Today, Ms. magazine is thriving. In print and online it reaches tens of thousands of readers every day and over 4.5 million readers a year. It has not only maintained consistent print circulation throughout the pandemic and the overall decline of print media, but has also seen its web presence skyrocket through its website, social media, and the podcasts it publishes through Ms. Studio. Ms. can also be found in thousands of libraries and classrooms, where new generations encounter feminist journalism, history and ideas that might otherwise never reach them.
“Gloria understood the importance of independent feminist media from the beginning,” said Eleanor Smeal, publisher of Ms. and president of the Feminist Majority Foundation. “Ms. remains an independent, nonprofit, feminist newsroom that is not beholden to commercial advertisers. That independence allows Ms. to keep breaking new ground, just as Gloria intended. From reproductive freedom and violence against women to pay equity, political representation and the global struggle for human rights, Ms. continues to cover the issues affecting women long before much of the mainstream media recognizes their importance.”
Ms. Magazine was co-founded in 1972 by Gloria Steinem. Gloria asked the Feminist Majority Foundation to take over Ms. magazine, and the Feminist Majority Foundation has been the publisher of Ms. magazine since 2001.