US feminist icon Gloria Steinem dies at age 92

Journalist and activist spent decades fighting for women's equality

BELGRADE:

Gloria Steinem, the American journalist, author and activist who became one of the most recognisable and enduring faces of the feminist movement, has died aged 92, her foundation announced on Thursday.

"Yesterday, Gloria Steinem passed away peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her," Gloria's Foundation said in a statement. It did not disclose the cause of death.

Steinem began her journalism career in the 1960s, exposing the inequalities faced by women when many in the United States still needed their husbands' approval to open bank accounts.

In the 1970s, she co-founded Ms magazine and the National Women's Political Caucus and helped organise the first National Women's Conference in Houston. She continued travelling, speaking at conferences and protests and campaigning for women's rights well into old age.

Born in Ohio on March 25, 1934, Steinem endured public scrutiny over her appearance, brief experience as a Playboy Bunny and decision to remain single and childless. She married businessman David Bale at 66, later quipping, "I didn't change. Marriage changed."