She Was a Feminist Icon. Can Her Dream Survive?

What a wretched time for Gloria Steinem to die.

Had Steinem, an icon of second-wave feminism, left us a decade ago, the arc of her life would have seemed one of unequivocal triumph. Steinem began her career at a time when abortion was illegal and male domination largely unquestioned. Moving to New York in 1960, she had a hard time finding an apartment on her own: “Landlords felt single women were not financially responsible, and if you could earn enough, you must be a hooker,” she once said. In 1969, the year she wrote her first piece about women’s liberation, there was one woman in the Senate, a widow who’d succeeded her husband. Until 1971, the year Steinem helped launch Ms. Magazine, women still weren’t allowed to join the National Press Club.

By September 2016, the world Steinem helped so many women imagine seemed closer than ever. Steinem’s friend Hillary Clinton was widely expected to become the next........

© The New York Times