GLORIA STEINEM

Ms. Steinem is a writer, political activist, and feminist organizer. She is a founder of New York and Ms. magazines and is the author of My Life on the Road (2015), Moving Beyond Words (1994), Revolution from Within, and Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983). She co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Free to Be Foundation, and the Women’s Media Center in the United States. 

Ms. Steinem graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College in 1956 and then spent two years in India on a Chester Bowles Fellowship, where she was influenced by Gandhian activism. Parenting magazine selected her for its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995 for her work in promoting girls' self-esteem, and Biography magazine listed her as one of the 25 most influential women in America. In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. In 2014, she received The Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal Award and in 2013, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor. Rutgers University is now creating the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture and Feminist Studies.