Breaking: Iconoclast feminist Gloria Steinem dies aged 92

Gloria Steinem, the author and activist who became one of the most visible voices of the US women's movement and a fierce feminist, has died aged 92. With her trademark streaked hair parted down the middle and large aviator glasses, Steinem, a co-founder of Ms. Magazine, was a hugely recognisable presence wherever she went. And she went everywhere; much of her life as an advocate was spent on the road, speaking at college campuses and community centres, at rallies and marches. She died Wednesday, local time, at her home in New York City, according to her and her foundation's social media pages. She began her career as a journalist, notably one who reported, in 1963, on degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner's Playboy empire, an undercover assignment she came to regret. She credits a meeting six years later, where women spoke out boldly in favour of abortion rights, with changing her career path. "That speak-out was the beginning of activism for me," Steinem, who had undergone a secret illegal abortion herself at age 22, told The AP in an email in 2022, reflecting on the reversal of Roe v Wade. "Either our control over our own bodies is equal, regardless of sex or race, or we're not living in a democracy."