Feminist Activist and Journalist Gloria Steinem's Net Worth Is Reflective of Hard Work

As far back as the late 1950s, journalist and tireless feminist advocate Gloria Steinem was already involved in the process of activism. Since humble roots driving around the country with her parents from a young age, the editor and advocate has spent her life being a voice for those whose voices are often silenced. As an editor, Gloria has interviewed hundreds of important women to give rise to a generation of women who speak for themselves and whose voices are amplified rather than altered.

While activism itself is not a lucrative business, Gloria has managed to garner an impressive net worth throughout the years. Here's what we know about her net worth and how her activism gave birth to Ms. Magazine, a source for news that promotes the welfare of women.

According to her Britannica bio, Gloria, born March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, spent much of her childhood traveling the United States in a house trailer with her parents, who divorced when she was around 12 years old.

She cared for her mom, who suffered from depression, before moving to live with her sister in Washington, D.C. during her senior year of high school. Britannica notes that she graduated from Smith College in 1956 and traveled to India, where her roots in activism began.

By 1960, she was employed as a writer in New York City, and by 1968, her writing was becoming markedly more political. In 1971, she co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus with Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, and Shirley Chisholm.

The same year, Ms. Magazine was born.

Through her work as a journalist, her political activism, and collaboration with organizations such as the Coalition of Labor Union Women, Voters for Choice, Women Against Pornography, and the Women’s Media Center, Gloria was an active part of the early women's liberation movement and continued her work through the late 20th and early 21st century.

As part of her tireless endeavors, she amassed an estimated net worth of around $20 million by 2025, according to Penn Book Center.

Gloria's name has become synonymous with the effort to achieve equality for women and early efforts at intersectionalism in the feminist movement, but she also has many feathers in her professional cap through her work with Ms. Magazine.

The magazine, founded in 1971, was designed to be a voice by women and for women, starting out as a "one-shot" insert in the New York magazine before being given a life of its own. According to the magazine's own website, the magazine's initial "300,000 'one-shot' test copies sold out nationwide in eight days."

Offering women a magazine that focused on more than having babies and pleasing husbands, Ms. helped launch a revolution, encouraging women to explore more of their lives.

In short, the magazine explains of itself, Ms. was "the first national magazine to make feminist voices audible, feminist journalism tenable and a feminist worldview available to the public."

While Gloria's accomplishments are impressive on their own, without Ms., millions and generations of American women would feel voiceless and unheard. More than a magazine, the website touts, it's a movement.

A movement which has helped propel intersectional feminism into a new century, despite the odds stacked against it.