Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem (born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and political activist recognized for her contributions to second-wave feminism in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. She gained prominence through investigative journalism exposing workplace exploitation of women and co-founding key feminist institutions, including Ms. magazine in 1972 and the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971.

Steinem's breakthrough article, "A Bunny's Tale," published in Show magazine in May 1963, detailed her undercover experience as a Playboy Bunny, revealing exploitative labor practices and sexual harassment at the clubs. Her activism emphasized issues such as reproductive rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, and opposition to pornography, positioning her as a public face of women's liberation. However, her early involvement with the CIA-funded Independent Research Service—which organized American student delegations to international youth festivals to counter communist influence—has been controversial, with critics alleging it aligned her with establishment interests rather than grassroots radicalism; Steinem acknowledged the funding but defended it as necessary anti-totalitarian work.

Gloria Steinem was born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, the second daughter of Leo Steinem, an itinerant antique dealer descended from Jewish immigrants from Germany and Poland, and Ruth Nuneviller Steinem, a Presbyterian of Scottish and German ancestry who had worked as a journalist and magazine editor before marriage.