US feminist icon Gloria Steinem dies aged 92

PUBLIC SCRUTINY

Born in Ohio on March 25, 1934, Steinem had a nomadic early life with a traveling salesman father.

Her parents divorced when she was 10, forcing her to care for her mother who had mental health issues.

As a frontline feminist, she came under intense scrutiny from across the political spectrum.

Her good looks, miniskirts and brief experience as a Playboy Bunny were used against her in attempts to undermine her credibility.

The fact that she remained single and childless was also weaponised.

At 66, she married businessman David Bale, the father of actor Christian Bale.

Asked by a reporter why she had changed her position on single life, she said: “I didn’t change. Marriage changed.”

Bale died three years later of brain cancer, aged 62. Steinem herself underwent surgery for breast cancer in the 1980s.

“HAVE HOPE”

Some younger activists saw Steinem as representing an outdated type of feminism.

She was criticised for defending Bill Clinton in 1989 when the then-governor of Arkansas was accused of sexual harassment.

In 2016, when Hillary Clinton was running for president but struggling to garner support among women, Steinem suggested young women preferred her rival Bernie Sanders because young men liked him.

“When you’re young, you’re thinking: ‘Where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie,'” she told talk show host Bill Maher. She later apologised.

Steinem was given numerous awards and honours, including the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 by Barack Obama.