Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem was born on March 25, 1934 in Toledo, Ohio, USA.

Graduated from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts (class of 1956). Other Smith graduates include former First Lady Nancy Reagan, poet Sylvia Plath, U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin and writer Madeleine L'Engle, author of "A Wrinkle in Time".

As an admirer of the comic book superhero, Wonder Woman, Steinem is credited as a leading voice in the protests the late 1960s and 1970s when the character was stripped of her powers and became an ordinary woman in her series that seem to delve into female stereotypes just as the Women's Lib movement was gaining power. In included putting the character on the cover of the third issue of the influential feminist magazine, Ms.. As such, Wonder Woman had her powers restored as a full superhero in the comic book and has been considered a major symbol of female empowerment ever since.

Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. [1993]

Told ABC's John Stossel in 1995 that women make better firefighters because of their lack of upper body strength, reasoning that dragging victims out of burning buildings keeps them away from the smoke.

When the movie The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) was released, Steinem, along with other feminist activists, held a press conference to protest the film for not covering sex-abuse allegations made by one of Flynt's daughters. In her press conference, she compared pornography's effect on women to the Holocaust's effect on Jews during WWII, and stated that making a film that was sympathetic to a man like Larry Flynt was comparable to making a film that was sympathetic to Adolf Hitler.

She became the stepmother of actor Christian Bale, Sharon Bale, Erin Bale and Louise Bale, when she married their father, David Bale, in September 2000.

Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. [2013]

Awarded the Century Award from the New York Women's Foundation. [2014]