A trailblazing writer and feminist organizer, Gloria Steinem has been at the forefront of the fight for equality and social justice for more than four decades. She is a frequent media spokeswoman on issues of equality and is particularly interested in the shared origins of sex and race caste systems, gender roles and child abuse as roots of violence, and organizing across boundaries for peace and justice.
In 1972, she co-founded Ms. magazine, and remained one of its editors for fifteen years. She continues to serve as a consulting editor for Ms. and was instrumental in the magazine’s move to be published by the Feminist Majority Foundation.
Ms. Steinem was the founding president of the Ms. Foundation for Women, a national multi-racial, multi-issue fund that supports grassroots projects to empower women and girls and also a founder of its Take Our Daughters to Work Day, a first national day devoted to girls that has now become an institution here and in other countries.
In November 2013, Ms. Steinem was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In his speech, President Obama recognized her lasting political and social impact in America and abroad. “Through her reporting and speaking, she has shaped debates on the intersection of sex and race, brought critical problems to national attention, and forged new opportunities for women…Gloria Steinem continues to move us all to take up the cause of reaching for a more just tomorrow.”